What is jaquez?

Answer 1

My father's first ancestor in America was Gil Jaquez, who left Spain around 1600 AD and settled at Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico. His descendants migrated northward to Durango, Chihuahua, and New Mexico by the early 1700's. In Spain, the origin of Jaquez is from the Iberian settlement of Jaca, Aragon, Spain. Ancient Jaca coins from the 3rd century BC show the name with an Iberian script composed of a Phoenician "tsade" charatcer on the left, an Iberian charatcer in the middle, and a Greek "A" on the right. It was probably pronounced "tsaka". The Greeks used the name "Iaka" instead. Long after the Roman occupation and later Visigoth empire, the name was "Xaca" or "Jaca" with the X and J letters having an "sh" sound. During the 8th century AD invasion of Spain by the Islamic armies, the Muslims changed the name to "dyaka", but the locals reconquered the settlement in the 8th century and renamed it Jaca. One family took the surname Jaca. By Roman latin tradition, the "quez" suffix was added to "Jaca", meaning "son of Jaca" or "from Jaca", which resulted in the surname "Jaquez". Their descendants migrated to Pamplona, Salamanca, and Baeza, Jaen by the 13th century during the Reconquest of Spain. Gil Jaquez left for Mexico around 1600 AD.