Query on the name "Martinez"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Apparently the '-ez' is generally thought to be from a Latin genitive
ending, i.e. "X-ez" = "[son] of X". Probably the exact Latin form is known,
but not to me. I would naively consider (1) descent from the
third-declension genitive singular with "-is", or (2) descent from "-icus"
or so. Most of the names to which this patronymic suffix is applied seem to
be Germanic (Visigothic, I guess), so without historical information it
would also be possible to consider the possibility of derivation from
Gothic (which had genitive singular like "-is" also). Spanish "-ez" is
clearly cognate with the Portuguese patronymic "-es"; is it cognate with
Romanian "-escu" also?

John Green states in one popular book: "the common suffix _-ez_ of Spanish
family names ... though Latin in origin, probably owes its diffusion to the
Visigoths."

Patronymic surnames are of course very common in many languages ... for
example:

-- Doug Wilson