Surname and Migration Experience My surname is Hernandez, which is a "distinguished Spanish surname…a proud sign of rich and ancient heritage”(2). While conducting research I also found out that my “name is derived from the Spanish elements ‘ 'faro" meaning “journey” and “nano”, meaning “brave”(2). Interesting enough the name Hernandez was first “found in Castile, where the name originated in Visigothic times” and “its cognates is due to King Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon (1198-1252)” (2). I never thought that my surname could mean anything more than “ son of Hernando”, which I was very pleasantly surprised that there is more meaning to it (2). I also found out that Hernandez “became established in southern Italy mainly in Naples
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Another interesting fact is Texas contains one of the highest number of Hernandez families, this is where the majority of my Hernandez side of the family came from (1). My Hernandez family has been living in Texas as early as the late 1800s and probably even earlier (4). A great aunt of mine traced the Hernandez lineage, she has passed on and we are not quite sure what she did with her research, so I chose to focus on my maternal side. On my maternal side I can trace my family back to when they came to America. The most familiar immigration story to America is my maternal grandfather, Nick Moutos, or Papou as I knew him. My papou was born in Rentina, Greece on December 13, 1932; as a side note, he always told my mom that he was born in 1933 and it was not until his 69th birthday that he told her that he was actually turning 70. So my mom went 32 years of her life thinking her dad was a year …show more content…
It is not on record for when my papou’s father came over from Greece, but I have been told by my mom that he and my papou’s older brother Vas came over first and they resided in San Angelo, Texas; which is confirmed by a yearbook photo of my great uncle Vas in 1952(8). The San Angelo residence was confirmed by an address on the passenger list for my family and also my great grandfather, Demetrios owned a restaurant named Coney Island Sandwich Shop (6 & 8). They eventually made their way to Lubbock, Texas and opened up another restaurant. Where my papou ended up meeting my mawmaw, Judy, who was 16 at the time that they got married and he was 29. I found out while doing research on Greeks in America that most of them owned restaurants and there were communities in Texas well before my family came over(10). I was never made aware of the struggles that my papou and his family had to face, because I do not think that we ever even talked about it. I know from my papou that he wanted to go to school for engineering but because of the language barrier he chose to do math and ended up graduating from Texas Tech in 1961, with a degree in Mathematics. Up until to two weeks before his death he tutored up to Calculus 3 and he was legally blind in his left eye. Due to a grenade explosion that he encountered as a young boy, which also
Another interesting fact is Texas contains one of the highest number of Hernandez families, this is where the majority of my Hernandez side of the family came from (1). My Hernandez family has been living in Texas as early as the late 1800s and probably even earlier (4). A great aunt of mine traced the Hernandez lineage, she has passed on and we are not quite sure what she did with her research, so I chose to focus on my maternal side. On my maternal side I can trace my family back to when they came to America. The most familiar immigration story to America is my maternal grandfather, Nick Moutos, or Papou as I knew him. My papou was born in Rentina, Greece on December 13, 1932; as a side note, he always told my mom that he was born in 1933 and it was not until his 69th birthday that he told her that he was actually turning 70. So my mom went 32 years of her life thinking her dad was a year …show more content…
It is not on record for when my papou’s father came over from Greece, but I have been told by my mom that he and my papou’s older brother Vas came over first and they resided in San Angelo, Texas; which is confirmed by a yearbook photo of my great uncle Vas in 1952(8). The San Angelo residence was confirmed by an address on the passenger list for my family and also my great grandfather, Demetrios owned a restaurant named Coney Island Sandwich Shop (6 & 8). They eventually made their way to Lubbock, Texas and opened up another restaurant. Where my papou ended up meeting my mawmaw, Judy, who was 16 at the time that they got married and he was 29. I found out while doing research on Greeks in America that most of them owned restaurants and there were communities in Texas well before my family came over(10). I was never made aware of the struggles that my papou and his family had to face, because I do not think that we ever even talked about it. I know from my papou that he wanted to go to school for engineering but because of the language barrier he chose to do math and ended up graduating from Texas Tech in 1961, with a degree in Mathematics. Up until to two weeks before his death he tutored up to Calculus 3 and he was legally blind in his left eye. Due to a grenade explosion that he encountered as a young boy, which also