FAMILY NICKNAMES : ESPÅTSA

A branch of the Camacho family on Guam is called the familian Espåtsa.

You won't normally hear them say it that way. But originally, the nickname was Espåtsa, back when Chamorros had the same trait as the Spaniards in being unable to say an S followed by another consonant without putting a vowel in front of the S.

In other words, in Spanish and in old-style Chamorro pronunciation, you will never find combinations like SB, SP, ST, SM, SN, SG or SK without a vowel (A, E, I, O, U) in front of it.

So Chamorros used to say ESKOOL when saying school; or ESTUDIENT when saying student.

As people got more Americanized, this trait disappeared and the Espåtsa family became known as the Spåtsa family.

Even the spelling shows the strong mark of Americanization.

The nickname begins with Spåt, but we think like Americans and picture the word spot. So, Spotsa, like the street sign picture above.

The trouble is that the Chamorro O always sounds like O as in coat or vote. Ogo, Okada and Toves are examples using the Chamorro O. So Spotsa really ought to be Spåtsa.

This street sign uses the A but without the lonnat (Å) to show that it has the AW sound. It also uses a Z when in Chamorro, we do not have the Z unless it's a foreign proper name like Perez or Lizama. Espåtsa is not a proper name, it is a nickname formed by Chamorrofying the Spanish name.

Well, enough about spelling....

Why does this family have this nickname?

If you're a member of the Espåtsa family and know the reason, please do comment below and let us know. But the few members I have been able to contact do not know the reason.

A CLUE

When I first came across the nickname Espåtsa, in court and/or land records during Spanish times, it was spelled Esparza. This makes sense. Chamorros would have changed the R to a T, and would have pronounced the Z like an S. When older Chamorros say Perez, it sounds like Peres. When older Chamorros say Carlos, it sounds like Kåtlos.

Esparza became Espåtsa.

So Esparza happens to be a Spanish last name!

In fact, here's a pic of Felipe Esparza, a Mexican comedian. I don't know his comedy nor support it. I just use him as an example of how Esparza is a Spanish last name.

OK, so did some Spanish, Latin American or Filipino guy named Esparza come to Guam and got somehow connected with a branch of the Camacho family?

That would seem to be a good possibility.

I haven't come across an Esparza in the Marianas records during Spanish times. But there are all kinds of possibilities. Maybe an Esparza came here for such a short time that his name isn't in the records, but stayed long enough to get connected with the Camachos. Maybe the Camacho went to Manila and got connected somehow with an Esparza. Maybe there is an Esparza in the records but the record got lost, destroyed or we just haven't found it yet. There are so many possibilities, some not even thought of. We know that some Chamorro families got their nickname because someone in the family worked for someone named Logan, for example. So that family became known as the familian Logan. Maybe a Camacho worked for some guy named Esparza.

But how else to explain Espåtsa, especially when the Spanish records call this family by the nickname Esparza?

So the best, I think, we can say for now, unless we get reliable information from the family, is that

1. Espåtsa comes from Esparza
2. Esparza is a Spanish last name
3. The Camachos better-known-as the familian Espåtsa were so named because of some connection to a person named Esparza or some other connection to the name Esparza.

WHICH CAMACHO?

Espåtsa must be one of the oldest family nicknames in Guam because it is not known yet who was the first person to carry the nickname. If the nickname had begun later in time, we would have a greater chance of knowing who was the first person to have the nickname.

In the case of Espåtsa, several Camacho families have been identified with that nickname, and the connections between these different Camachos is not always clear.

For example, a FERMÍN LUJÁN CAMACHO, born around 1849, was identified in court records ad being known as Espåtsa.

Fermín was the son of Luís Palomo Camacho and Juana Luján. These are the same ancestors of the late Governor Carlos García Camacho and his son, the former Governor Felix Pérez Camacho. Fermín was married to Ignacia Acosta Arriola.

Félix San Nicolás Camacho, born around 1877, is also identified as being Espåtsa in court documents. His father was Pedro Camacho, but we don't know yet what connection, if any, Pedro has with Fermín Luján Camacho. Félix married Juana Borja Crisástomo and their son Vicente, who married Josefa Guerrero, have descendants today.

Félix's brother Manuel married Ana Delgado Meno and this branch of the Espåtsas have many descendants to this day.

José Ortiz Camacho, husband of Josefa Baza Deza, was also the son of the same Pedro Camacho, father of Félix San Nicolás Camacho, but with his first wife Joaquina Ortiz. These Camachos became more identified as the familia'n Desa, because the man Camacho married a Deza woman, and as the Deza name was only one family, the nickname Desa was more convenient in singling out this family.

And then we have the Sumay Espåtsa.

Guillermo Sablan Camacho, whose name appears below in a court document in 1912, is nicknamed Esparsa, or Espåtsa. The @ stands for "alias," or "also known as." His son Tomás Taitano Camacho carries on the nickname.

Guillermo was the son of Antonio Camacho and Dolores Sablan, both of Hagåtña. What connection, if any, existed between Antonio and Fermín and Pedro Camacho is still not known, though they were all identified as Espåtsa. Clearly, this nickname goes back to the 1830s or so. One of the oldest family nicknames that has survived till now.