Most Spanish surnames (or perhaps even all of them?) that end in “-ez”, like the Portuguese ones in “-es”, are paroxitones (which means that the stress falls on the penultimate syllable), and therefore require the acute accent (´). In Portuguese, this isn’t necessary, because the corresponding names end in “-es”, and according to the spelling rules they are automatically paroxitones without needing a written accent.
Compare Eça de Queiroz, a name which is sometimes also written Eça de Queirós, without any consequences for the pronunciation.
| Spanish surname | Portuguese surname |
|---|---|
| Álvarez | Álvares |
| Álvez | Alves |
| Antúnez | Antunes |
| Aranjuez (!) | ?? |
| Chávez | Chaves |
| El Cordobés (!) | |
| Estébanez, Estévanez | ?? |
| Estévez | Esteves |
| Fernández | Fernandes |
| Domínguez | Domingues |
| Gálvez | Galves ?? |
| Giménez, Jiménez, Ximénez | Ximenes |
| Gómez | Gomes |
| González | Gonçales |
| Gutiérrez | Guterres |
| Herráez | Ferraz?, Ferras?, Ferrás? |
| Hernández | Hernandes |
| Ibáñez | Ianhes? |
| Jerez (!) | Xerez (!) |
| Juárez | Joares |
| Laínez | Laíns |
| López | Lopes |
| Martínez | Martins |
| Márquez (Gabriel García) | Marques |
| Méndez | Mendes (Sérgio, da Costa) |
| Móntez | Montes |
| Núñez | Nunes |
| Pérez | Peres (Kenneth, Belle) |
| Ramírez | Ramires |
| Pírez | Pires |
| Rodríguez | Rodrigues |
| Sáez | ?? |
| Sánchez | Sanches |
| Suárez | Soares |
| Valdez, Valdés (!) | |
| Vázquez | Vasques |
| Velázquez, Velásquez | Velasques |
| Peneda-Xurés (!) | Peneda-Gerês (!) |
| Yáñez | Eanes |
| The word is | if the stresses syllable is the | Example |
|---|---|---|
| oxytone | last | arroz |
| paroxytone | penultimate (last but one) | palavra |
| proparoxytone | antepenultimate (last but two) | última |
Copyright © 2009 by R. Harmsen.
Translated from Portuguese by
R. Harmsen, 19 June 2009