Unraveling the Mysteries Behind My Last Name

Picture it.

Fort McClellan, Alabama.

I’m standing at parade rest next to my bunk in a uniform that still reeks of mothballs. One of our cadre of Drill Sargents is a young black woman, Drill Sgt. Bruce. She holds a clipboard. She’s walking up the middle of the bay in the no mans land between the lines of bunks. Only the Drills are allowed to walk down that strip of flooring.

She’s looking each of us over and learning our faces and name.

She comes to me and look at the clipboard. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Private Muniz. How do I pronounce your last name?”

“Drill Sargent,” I said. “You just pronounced it perfectly!”

It amazed me. No one, gets it right the first time.

But she did!

I’ve heard it pronounced some really bizarre ways. “Moneize” is the most common way I’ve heard it. Then there ever popular “Mooniez.” then there’s “Munzzzzz.”

I’ve sometimes have spent several minutes saying it over and over almost as if it were a mantra. Despite carrying the last name my entire life it still sounds strange to my ears.

My last name comes from Spain and/or Portugal. That much I knew. But the people who like dealing in names have come up with a few interesting things to toss in:

• The name come from the Latin root “Manochus” which means “Monk.” It of course was used to denote descendants or followers of “”Mono” or “Mona”. The name eventually spread over the Iberian Peninsula.
• The name is derived from “Munio” which derived from the visigothic name “Aemunis.” While that hints at some really interesting genetic stew, it might also explain why I favor black.
• In Spain, the name is found mostly in Galicia and Asturias region of spain and is associated with mountains.
• The name is shared with several noble and aristocratic families of old.
• It was also adopted by Sephardic Jews during the Spanish Inquisition to help avoid persecution. There might be some truth to that. Check out the article below “The Secret Jews of the San Luis Valley.”
• The name isn’t all that common in the States. But you find it all over Brazil, the Iberian Peninsula, and in the Philippines.

Why that came to the new world, I haven’t a clue. I do know they came up through Vera Cruz and into New Mexico and eventually, Colorado.

Sounds like a research project to me.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-secret-jews-of-san-luis-valley-11765512/