Relationship by Isonymy and Migration Pattern in Northwest Spain

Document Type

Article

Authors

V Fuster, University Complutense, Madrid, Spain

Abstract

The distribution of surnames in nine parishes of a rural community (Galicia, Spain) has been determined for the period 1871-1929, in order to analyze the spatial and temporal variability of the relationship among them as measured by isonymy and its concordance with the migration pattern. The data consist of 5,064 surnames derived from 1,326 reconstituted families.Comparison of interperiod (1871-1899, 1900-1929) relationship coefficient matrices suggests reduced temporal modification of surname distribution. The negative interdependence between isonymy and kilometric distance matrix was confirmed by a multidimensional scaling model which positioned sub-populations in a two-dimension spatial configuration. Moreover, the correlation between migration-kinship and isonymy matrices was calculated. The above results indicate that in this area of Spain interdivision relationships correspond fairly well to their geographical coordinates and that a substantial fraction of the recent surname distribution may be explained by the long-term migration pattern.

Recommended Citation

Fuster, V (1986) "Relationship by Isonymy and Migration Pattern in Northwest Spain," Human Biology: Vol. 58: Iss. 3, Article 8.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol58/iss3/8