Identités feintes – Anthroponymie et migrations atlantiques, xvie-xviiie siècles

Abstract

Using information taken from Inquisition sources, private correspondence, notarial deeds and documentation in the General Archives of the Indies, which relates to possessions of deceased persons and to the fiscal proceedings of the Seville Chamber of Commerce (Contratación), this study analyses the factors which made changes of name possible, and the strategies which were used to carry out such changes successfully in the context of Spanish migration to America from the 16th to the 18th century. The nature of the sources used led to the discovery of a phenomenon confined to illegality. The name changes which we have noted were related to avoidance of the practice of laws of migration and also to the need to hide a biographical reality which was criminal or at least reprehensible. Those who changed names followed the naming system which was in force in Spain and which was imported into the Indies by legal migration. Such an action, carried out by men in particular, was designed to change their identity by means of a transformation of name, be it total or partial, the latter being the most frequent, perhaps because most of the individuals concerned did not wish to shed all connection with their past.

Keywords

• Atlantic History
• identity
• Migration
• Casa de la Contratación
• anthroponomy
• accreditation