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Jiménez (surname)

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For other uses, see Jiménez (disambiguation).
"Ximenes" redirects here. For other uses, see Ximénez (disambiguation).
Jiménez
Language(s)Spanish
Origin
Word/nameSpanish
Region of originBasque Country, Spain
Other names
Variant form(s)
  • Jimenes
  • Giménez
  • Gimenes
  • Ximénez
  • Ximenes
  • Ximenis
  • Eiximenis
  • Scimemi
  • Scimeni

Jiménez is a patronymic surname of Iberian origin, first appearing in the Basque lands.

Jiménez is a patronymic construction from the modern-styled given name Jimeno, plus the Spanish suffix -ez, representing 'son of' Jimeno. The root appears to stem from Basque semen ('son'), attested in Aquitanian inscriptions as Sembeconnis and like forms. The patronymic appears in the 10th century Latin Códice de Roda genealogies as Scemenonis.

Variants of the surname include Jimenes, Ximénez/Ximenes, Giménez/Gimenes, Chiménez, Chimenes, Seménez, Semenes, Ximenis or Eiximenis in Catalonia, in Sicilian Scimemi or Scimeni and the Neapolitan Chimenz or Chimenez. In Spanish orthography, the variations of Jiménez that end with a z are written with an acute accent on the second syllable. In English, all variations are commonly written without the diacritic. In Portuguese orthography, there is no diacritic used for Ximenes.

Spelling

As the modern name Ximenes has an -es suffix, it is almost certainly of Portuguese, Galician or Old Spanish origin, as the orthographic change to -ez (and the consonant shift from X to J) was revised in Spain only in the late 18th century. This was not the case in Portugal.

Other languages in Castilian-dominated lands like Aragon, Asturias, Galicia, often retained the -es ending, and their descendants bear witness to this historical anomaly. In Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearics, the ending -is is used instead of -es (or -ez), hence, the spelling Ximenis (or the variant with vowel epenthesis, Eiximinis or Eximenis).

Ximenes is found most commonly in Portugal, and in all of the ex-Portuguese Crown territories, especially in Brazil. Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Nobel Laureate from East Timor in 1996, and Brazilian actress Mariana Ximenes are prime examples of this historical difference.

Notable people

Jimenes

Jiménez or Jimenez

Ximenes

Coat of arms of the Ximenes de Poissy family, a French dynasty of Portuguese origin. Their descendants also reside in Brazil.

Eiximenis

Fictional characters

Ruling dynasty

The Jiménez dynasty is a name sometimes given a dynasty that in 905 became kings of Pamplona, eventually expanding their control to most of Christian Iberia.

References

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