Description
Every name is a story. This one begins with a question: Whose son are you?
“González” means “son of Gonzalo” — and Gonzalo comes from the Germanic battle-root, carried north into Spain by the peoples who named it. It was invented not once but thousands of times, by thousands of unrelated fathers named Gonzalo, from the charters of medieval Castile to the harbors that carried it across the Atlantic. A polygenetic name with no single founding bloodline, now the third surname of Spain, the fifth paternal surname on Mexico’s electoral roll, the thirteenth in the United States, and the first in Chile.
This lavishly illustrated volume traces González through eight chapters — the Gonzalo who lent his name and the Germanic battle-root behind it; the heartland of northern Spain, from the green mountains of Galicia to the counts of Castile; three centuries of crossings, from conquest-era galleons to the cannon at Gonzales, Texas; the signature story of Sergeant Freddy Gonzalez, who volunteered to return to Vietnam and gave his life at the Battle of Huế — Medal of Honor — and whose name a U.S. Navy destroyer still carries; the heraldry — five shields, not one — that belongs to particular lineages and never to all; a gallery of fifteen great bearers — a count of Castile, three presidents, a tennis champion, a sculptor in iron, the painter Manet befriended, and the physicians two towns were named for; the curiosities, from “Come and Take It” to the fastest mouse in all of Mexico; the towns that kept the name; and where the Gonzálezes live today.
Printed in dramatic 8.5″ × 11″ large format, González: A Surname History is the perfect gift for anyone who bears the name — past, present, and future — and for all those who love them.
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