The Seventeenth Grounds for Taxation

THE SEVENTEENTH Grounds for taxation In the analysis of the baptismal certificates, we have established six aspects that we consider may have influenced the imposition of names, and they are the following: when the same name is taken from the father; of the mother; the godfather; the godmother; of the saint and when the name is imposed for other reasons, this section remains open and should be studied under the family reconstruction and elaboration of genealogies. 1.- Imposition of names such as the father. The children of Agüimes bore the name of their parents in 8.73% of the cases, a percentage that remained practically stable throughout the century and only experienced an increase between 1626 and 1650 that reached 12.13%. There are girls who bear their father's name but are feminized, reaching 2.43% of the total, a percentage that remained practically unchanged throughout the century (see Table I, with percentages, at the end of this section III). 2.- Imposition of names such as the mother. The girls of Agüimes bore the same name as their mothers in 9.75% of the cases, a percentage that underwent certain alterations throughout the century and thus its lowest level is between 1651 and 1675 with 8.25%, and the maximum in the following quarter of the century with 10.11%. There are also boys who use their mothers' masculinized names, reaching 2.7%, a percentage that had oscillations throughout the century but never greater than one point of difference between their different rooms. If we take together the total number of children who used the same name as their parents throughout the seventeenth century in Agüimes, we have a percentage of use of 11.51%, which shows us that in almost all families the name of at least one of the parents is repeated. In some cases, it is the case that a child bears the child of both parents, such as Francisca-Laureana, baptized in 1682, daughter of Francisco Hernández and Laureana de Aday.15 These percentages in Agüimes are similar to those obtained in Arucas and Moya, since the boys of Arucas were named after their fathers in 9.97% of the cases and those of Moya in 8.25%, while the girls of Arucas were named after their mothers in 9.49% and in Moya in 7.68%.16 3.Imposition of names such as the godfather. Curiously, contrary to what one might think a priori, godparents do not decisively influence the borrowing of their names and this has been shown in studies carried out elsewhere, such as in the region of Murcia,17 and which coincides with data obtained for Telde during the sixteenth century, since the boys of this city used the name of their godfathers and godmothers in 7.50%, while the girls of Telda did so in 9.44%.18 In Arucas, 7.69% of children were named after their godparents and 6.72% in Moya.19 In Agüimes the data obtained are somewhat higher than those indicated in Arucas, Moya and Telde, since the number of children who use the name of their godparents is 9.27%, a percentage that was reduced throughout the century since between 1602 and 1625 12.13% carried it. The number of girls who bear the name as godfathers is not very significant, with 1.59%, with its maximum level between 1651 and 1675 reaching 2.85%. 4.- Imposition of names such as godmother. It is a difficult aspect to evaluate since from the middle of the seventeenth century the baptismal registers reflect, in a large majority of cases, only the godfather and thus the indication of godfather and godmother was recorded in Agüimes, between 1602 and 1625 in 45.18% of the cases; in 1626 and 1650 in 54.61%; in the following quarter it fell to 33% and in the last quarter of a century the decline it lasted to 19.53%, with the average for the century being 34.15%. For this reason, the data obtained is poor. The borrowing of names by godmothers must not have been very widespread, and so in Telde, which during the sixteenth century, 80% of baptisms had a godmother, only 1.27% of them lent their name to boys and 6.77% to girls20. In Agüimes 4.14% of girls took the name of their godmothers, but the data differ greatly from the first to the second half of the century and thus from 1602 to 1625 the percentage reached 6.98%, rising in the following quarter to 7.19%, but from 1650 onwards there is a regression and between 1651 and 1675, It fell to 4.35%, to give a drop in the last quarter of a century that reached 1.41%. Children rarely used the names of their godmothers, and throughout the century there was no more than 1%. In the total group of boys and girls who used the name of their godfathers or godmothers, 7.70% was reached, a percentage similar to those we have pointed out for other places, so this custom attends more to general than local aspects, observing that as the population increases, the number of godparents who lend their names to their godchildren decreases. Possibly because there are a greater number of sponsor candidates and a greater breadth of names to share. 5.- Imposition of names such as the saint. Already in the process of data collection, the influence of the saint in the imposition of names is observed and in January the names of Manuel, Salvador, Gaspar, Melchior, Baltasar or Sebastián are frequent; in February, Blas and Blasina; in March, José and Josefa; in May, María and her compounds stand out, although María is also repeated in August, September and the end of December and the beginning of January; in June, John and Joan, Anthony and Antonia, Peter and Paul; in July, Anne and Elizabeth; in August, Lorenzo, Roque, Domingo and Bartolomé; in September, Miguel; in October, Francisco, Francisca and Mateo; in November, Andrés, Andresa, Diego and Catalina; in December, Lucia, Esteban and Sylvester. As we have already seen, the saints close to Christ are the most repeated and there is no lack of apostles, evangelists, fathers of the Church, members of the Holy Family, where curiously the name of Jesus is not used, which is replaced by Manuel or Salvador. Only one boy bore the name Jesus, but he was associated with John (John of Jesus) and on three other occasions associated with women (Anne of Jesus, Eleanor of Jesus and Mary of Jesus). Saints from religious orders also appear; martyrs and saints of local dedication, such as the patron saint of the parish. Sometimes the names of people proclaimed by the people to be saintly are used, as in the case of the Guiense nun Catalina de San Mateo, whose name began to be used in baptisms at the end of the seventeenth century in Gran Canaria and this is what happened in Agüimes with a girl in 1697. Compound names seem to reinforce the imposition of them and usually combine the name of the father or mother, in the first place, with that of the saint below, but they also serve to strengthen or refer specifically to a specific saint or festivity such as the cases of the aforementioned Catherine of St. Matthew or others such as: Francisco de los Santos, Francisco Javier, Francisco de la Cruz, JuanBaptista, Félix-Adaucto, María Magdalena, María de la Concepción, MaríaCandelaria or María de los Reyes. The children of Agüimes took the name under the influence of the saint in 26.66% of the cases, reaching its highest point between 1610 and 1625 with 29% and the lowest between 1651 and 1675 with 24.22%. Girls make more use of saints and reach 31.78%, fluctuating throughout the century and thus going from a minimum of 27.62%, between 1602 and 1625, to a maximum of 34.67%, between 1676 and 1700. In Arucas the data are similar, since the saint influenced 28.37% of boys and 30.78% of girls, while Moya had a greater influence on boys (33.88%) and 35.99% for girls.21 In the total number of boys and girls, the influence of the saint in the imposition of names of those baptized in the parish of San Sebastián in the town of Agüimes was 29.23%. 6.- Imposition of names for other reasons. An aspect that would include various motives that could only be revealed, as we have already indicated, through family reconstruction and the elaboration of genealogies. In this way, we would be able to detect which children are named after their grandparents or other relatives, or the names of political rulers (kings and queens) or ecclesiastics (popes, bishops, parish priests...), etc. In Agüimes, this aspect of analysis represents 52.82% in boys and 50.31% in girls.