what does ez mean...?

Question

ive noticed in a lot of spanish last names that they end with ez, like "lopez, domigez, sanchez," does it mean family or somethin?

Answer 1

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Apparently, the "ez" signifies a patronymic name in Spanish, although the syllable itself isn't an actual word. The sons of Aragon kings were the first Spaniards to adopt the practice of attaching "ez" to their father's name; and in turn, their descendants would use it as their family's name. For example, King Ramiro's son was Sancho Ramirez.

Thus, the son of Lope takes the family name Lopez; the son of Pedro (or its variant Pero) takes the family name Perez, and the son of Sancho takes the family name Sanchez.