Lots Of Latinos Don’t Have Spanish Surnames (Like Me)

So you’re probably wondering, how does the surname “Calderón” not count as a Spanish surname? Well, it does. But my other last name, Schuessler, certainly doesn’t.

I’ve been thinking recently, about our assumptions of what “Latino” is in this country, and the truth is, I don’t think any one of us can really put a finger on it. Culture moves, shifts, morphs, evolves much too quickly for any of us to keep up. One thing is for certain, though: I think we all overwhelmingly assume that Spanish surnames are correlated with being Latino. And, as Latinos in the U.S. continue to grow and change as a portion of the population, their Spanish surnames are sure to do the same.

Even I, Sara Inés Calderón Schuessler, assumed this much, which is kind of dumb considering that my second surname is German. Nonetheless, when I moved to the Texas border in 2005 I was surprised to be frequently encountering Latinos who had non-Spanish surnames. Betancourt. Moody. Riskin. Levin. There are many more, and probably the funniest part, is they become Spanish when passed down a generation: Schuessler becomes “chish-ler” and Betancourt becomes “beten-cur,” and so on.

That’s culture for you.

We wrote about this phenomenon briefly when discussing the ways in which pollsters surveyed Latino voters, but given our recent post covering the concentrations of Latino populations in the U.S., it occurred to me that Spanish surnames are probably one of the things that will change with this population. Or, I suppose it’s more accurate to say, change more, since Latinos with non-Spanish surnames have been around, well, since colonization. What’s that, like 500 years?

It’s assumptions like these that will go the way of the Dodo bird as we, you and I, bear witness to the evolution of the U.S. as the Latino population continues to grow and influence cultural (given a higher predisposition to interracial marriage than other ethnic groups) patterns in this country. So, despite myself (and my own name), back in 2005 I changed my preconceived notions of what a Latino was “supposed” to be called, and began to embrace the fact that, along with looks, names can also be deceiving. Because, I guess the point is that culture is something intangible, certainly nothing to be corralled by a few measly letters.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD