Sanchez: A Surname History

Description

Sánchez: A Surname History — Volume 30 of The Surname Histories Series. The son of Sancho — a medieval patronymic from the Latin Sanctius, “holy, saintly” — Sánchez stands #26 in the 2010 U.S. Census with 612,752 bearers, 92.99% Hispanic, sitting directly behind Harris at #25 and completing the series’ six-book running echo (Lee #21 → Pérez #22 → Thompson #23 → White #24 → Harris #25 → Sánchez #26). The signature story is Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (b. 1971), the Barcelona Bumblebee — four-time Grand Slam singles champion, Olympic medalist, and 1994 World No. 1; a gallery of nineteen remarkable bearers runs from Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, founding father of the Dominican Republic, to Hugo Sánchez, Yoani Sánchez, and Pedro Sánchez; four lineage coats of arms — towers, cauldrons, and dragons, drawn from the printed pages of Rietstap’s Armorial général (1884) and Valero de Bernabé’s Armorial del Reino de Galicia — show why no single coat of arms belongs to a surname; and a gazetteer of Sánchez places maps María Trinidad Sánchez Province and Sánchez Ramírez Province in the Dominican Republic.