Mark Wadsworth: José Manuel Barroso

Thursday, 11 February 2010

José Manuel Barroso

5 comments:

James Higham said...: Where's the little moustache?; 11 February 2010 at 21:04
dearieme said...: He's Portugese. Are you really telling me that he has only three names?; 11 February 2010 at 21:14
Mark Wadsworth said...: JH, feel free to print one off and do the moustache, use as a dartboard, doormat etc :-); 11 February 2010 at 21:14
Mark Wadsworth said...: D, he only appears to have four names in total, actually, I thought it was about six.; 11 February 2010 at 21:17
The Hickory Wind said...: For legal purposes, his name consists of his Christian name (names in his case) plus his mother's and father's maternal surnames, in that order. In fact, the name can go forever, by adding the mother's and father's first, then fourth, then third etc surname ad infinitum. Spanish practice uses father1, mother1, father2, mother2, etc, which is a bit easier to follow.

It is normal in Portugal to use the mother's surname for everyday purposes, and Barroso does this. It is not common in Spain, but it does happen. The president, in fact, is known as Zapatero, which is his mother's surname. Legally, his first surname is Rodríguez.; 11 February 2010 at 22:30

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