to de or not to de or the secret of dominican surnames

dv8

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i would like to know when does one get DE in the surname. since i work with seguros on daily basis i get to see many dominican cedulas and i have noticed that most just state, say: CARMEN MARIA PEREZ SANCHEZ. but la primera dama is MARGARITA CEDENO DE FERNANDEZ. are there any rules towards this?
i am being told that i can be KOWALSKA DE MARTINEZ or KOWALSKA MARTINEZ so does a woman get to chose to de, in a similar fashion a woman choses in europe whether she wants to keep her name, have husbands name or have both?
and what happens to illegitimate father-unknown kids? do they end up as TAVAREZ TAVAREZ or just one TAVAREZ?
 

MaineGirl

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my ideas

You use the "de" when the woman's family name is better (class? money? hmm) than the husbands or at least as good.

When the child has one parent you use the name of the mother's father alone. Or just the same as the mother, with traditional dad/mom name sequence.

And these are ideas, not facts, no soy experta.
 

Hillbilly

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dv8 de Whoever. Means you are married

dv8 whoever. Means your mother was whoever, your father dv8.

HB
 

dv8

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so perez sanchez is unmarried woman and perez de sanchez is married?
 

AlterEgo

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In my husband's family the women his brothers married all kept their original/birth double surnames. [As opposed to me, who dropped my maiden name and took my husband's surname, American style] However, in DR that's not normally done, there I am Blankety Blank [maiden] de [his surname]. Tells anyone who's interested that I'm married to him. [It truly confuses a lot of Dominicans that I have the same surname as my husband] I don't believe the cedulas ever get changed to add the 'de' husband's surname, which is why you're seeing women with their birth/original surnames on the cedula. It does show if the person is married or not on the cedula [or it should, my husband's still says he's single, 33 years later].

Now, if Luis becomes President, you'll undoubtedly be referred to with the "de". :)

If madame First Lady outlives Leonel, she will then be called 'vda' Fernandez, indicating she's a widow of Fernandez.

A child who is born to an unmarried woman normally takes the mother's father's surname. Sometimes the father does acknowledge the child and gives them his surname, without marrying the mother. I know many cases like that.

AE
 

Matilda

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Sep 13, 2006
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I could have used my maiden name and then my husbands first surname, ie his fathers surname, but my maiden name is unpronounceable for dominicans!! So I am Matilda de husbands surname. Nice to hear that it means my family are more important!! Mind you no one asked or checked and it just got waved through when I got a new passport in England. I like being a de though - goes well with Do?a!!!

mat
 

dv8

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A child who is born to an unmarried woman normally takes the mother's father's surname.

you mean full surname of the father? say, we have a dude named gomez fernandez, his daughter is gomez perez (fathers name plus mothers name). her bastardly child, so to speak, would be gomez fernandez, right?

gee, complicated :rolleyes:
 

dv8

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I could have used my maiden name and then my husbands first surname, ie his fathers surname, but my maiden name is unpronounceable for dominicans!! So I am Matilda de husbands surname. Nice to hear that it means my family are more important!! Mind you no one asked or checked and it just got waved through when I got a new passport in England. I like being a de though - goes well with Do?a!!!
mat

i gotta say i cannot be bothered to register my marriage in poland and spend days in government offices changing all my documents. therefore my polish ID and passport are in my maiden name with "single" in marital status and dominican documents are with my maiden name with "casada".
but i introduce myself with miesposo's name, without de. maybe i should start to de, i kinda like it :)
 

AlterEgo

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you mean full surname of the father? say, we have a dude named gomez fernandez, his daughter is gomez perez (fathers name plus mothers name). her bastardly child, so to speak, would be gomez fernandez, right?

gee, complicated :rolleyes:



No, just Gomez.

AE
 

AlterEgo

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just one last name?

That's what I've seen. My suegro's sister had several sons with a man who she never married. A judge. They all just have one last name, same as mine.

One of my suegras's sisters [who is now 97!!] had three daughters with a doctor in SD, they never married, but those girls all had his surname too, and knew all their half-siblings [doc was married].

One of my husband's first cousins is a well-known air-force general in DR, his wife is a colonel. He had a mistress from the beginning, the two women often pregnant at the same time, and all the children carry his name. And were raised together.

It just depends on the situation.

AE
 

Hillbilly

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AE: That means that the philandering judge went to the Registro Civil and declared that he was the father of the children. They therefore have his last name and the last name of his mistress. The mother, however, will never be vda de Judge...But the kids will inherit the same as the ones from his official wife...

HB
 

AlterEgo

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AE: That means that the philandering judge went to the Registro Civil and declared that he was the father of the children. They therefore have his last name and the last name of his mistress. The mother, however, will never be vda de Judge...But the kids will inherit the same as the ones from his official wife...

HB

Maybe I wasn't clear - the judge never acknowledged any of the 4 sons. They had no right to his name. This was in Los Armacigos.

The doctor did acknowledge his daughters. This was in Santo Domingo.

AE
 

dv8

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so one apellido is a sure sign of mother's immoral conduct?
or being a gringo :D