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Comment by faragon | Hacker News Reader

Before that, in 1930, the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset (two surnames) published "The Revolt of the Masses" book [1], going even further.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolt_of_the_Masses

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I think that's the first time I've seen a y (and) added between Spanish last names. Any idea where that practice comes from?

Jose Ortega y Gasset was a relative of mine, and I asked this as a kid. What I was told (by my grandmother, his niece) is that it is sometimes done when there's a weirdness in the combination of the two last names that would make it ambiguous, such as someone who has a compound first name like Jose-Maria that makes it harder to tell where a first name/last name breaks, or in this case, where it results in a repeated sound (ga-ga) that feels weird to say. But I have not found any corroboration of this online.

It has now been officially documented online by your grandmother via you. I'd take her word for it!

I used to live on the street in Madrid named after your great-great uncle, and I always wondered why he was named like that. The explanation make sense!

Thanks for answering. As a Spanish speaker this makes sense. My dad is from Mexico and no one in my entire family has this so maybe it's limited more to Spain?

It was until the 19th century, when it was somewhat normalized (census, etc.). Since the 20th century naming in Spain is pretty the same as Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries. All my known relatives names/surnames are without "y".

Yep, we are talking about someone who was born in the 1880s. Though as a counterexample in the modern age, there is a well-known Spanish economist at Columbia named Xavier Sala i Martin.

It was a common practice in Spain until the XIX th century. E.g. Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra (1547-1616), the author of the book "Don Quixote" used the same pattern (in modern texts is often referenced without the "y", as Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra). Literally, it means Miguel "from" (as "son of") Cervantes (father first surname) "and" Saavedra (mother first surname).

Currently that form is in disuse, so if being born nowdays it would be just José Ortega Gasset, although people could formally/informally use "José Ortega y Gasset", "José de Ortega y Gasset", or even "José Ortega i Gasset" (in case of being written in texts in Catalan, instead of Spanish, a form that is still in use in some Spanish regions having the Catalan/Valencian in addition to the Spanish).

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