Basque Naming Customs

Online Tools

Basque surnames are surnames with Basque-language origins or a long, identifiable tradition in the Basque Country (which comprises the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France).
Basque surnames can be divided into two main types, patronymic and non-patronymic.
Patronymics are by far the most common surnames in the whole of the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre. The patronymics are derived from the father through the suffix -ez, -oz, -iz or -az which means 'of'.
The Basque language also expresses family links with the genitive suffix -(r)ena, e.g. Perurena, Arozena, etc., meaning 'belonging to'.
The non-patronymic surnames are often toponymic (geographical) ones that refer to the family's "etxea", the historically all important family home. When a farm (baserri) was rented to another family, often the new tenants were known locally by the farm name rather than by their officially registered surname.
Medieval Basque names follow a descriptive naming pattern about the person, pointing to physical features, family relations, or geographical origin.