Colombian ambushed near San Jose: the Maltese citizen’s surname

Some sections of the Spanish-language press in Costa Rica have named the Maltese citizen involved in the hit-man killing of a Colombian near San Jose as SINESTERRA SANCHEZ rather than just Sanchez.

The naming system in Spanish-speaking and Spanish-influenced parts of the world identifies everyone by their father’s surname followed by their mother’s, though the official surname is just the father’s.

This would indicate that the man’s proper surname is actually Sinesterra rather than Sanchez.

To give an example, a woman whose parents are Jose Lopez Abel and Maria Sanchez Acosta would be called Ana Lopez Sanchez. A man whose parents are Jaime Torres Alfaro and Sara Cardez Amador would be Raoul Torres Cardez. They marry and have a daughter. Their daughter is known as Simona Torres Lopez.

Ultimately, the first and actual surname is always the father’s, as in our naming system, with the mother’s tacked on semi-officially as a further identifier. The mother’s surname, however, does not pass down further than her actual children.