Types and Composition
The majority of modern Basque surnames fall into two categories:
- a descriptive of the family house. This usually either refers to the relative location of the home or the purpose of the building.
- the first owner of the house. Usually this is a man's name. These surnames are relatively recent
Surnames from either category are formed using nouns, adjectives, a number of suffixes and endings such as the absolutive ending -a, the relational suffix -ko and the genitive ending -ren.
An example of the second class are Martinikorena ("Martinico's ", Martinico being a Navarrese hypocoristic for Martin). Another would be Mikelena, "Michael's".
The following examples all relate to the location of the family home.
| Surname | Elements | Meaning |
| Arrigorriagakoa | (h)arri "stone" + gorri "red" + aga "place of" + -ko "of" + -a "the" | the one of the place of the red stones |
| Aroztegi | (h)arotz "smith/carpenter" + -tegi "place" | smith's workshop/carpentry |
| Bidarte | bide "way" + arte "between" | between the ways |
| Bolibar | bolu "mill" + ibar "valley" | mill valley |
| Elkano | elke "vegetable garden" + no "small" | small vegetable garden |
| Elizondo | eliza "church" + ondo "nearby" | near the church |
| Etxandi | etxe "house" + handi "big" | big house |
| Etxarte | etxe "house" + arte "between" | house between |
| Etxeberri | etxe "house" + berri "new" | new house |
| Goikoetxe | goi "high place" + etxe "house" | high lying house |
| Ibaiguren | ibai "river" + guren "edge" | river's edge |
| Ibarra | ibar | valley |
| Loiola | lohi "mud" + -ola "place" | muddy place |
| Mariñelarena | Marinela "sailor" + suffix "rena" | the sailor's (home/son) |
| Mendiluze | mendi "mountain" + luze "long" | the long mountain |
| Mendoza | mendi "mountain" + hotza "cold" | cold mountain |
| Urberoaga | ur "water" + bero "hot" + -aga "place of" | the place of the hot water |
| Zabala | zabal "wide" | the wide one |
| Zubiondo | zubi "bridge" + ondo "nearby" | near the bridge |
Read more about this topic: Basque Surnames
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