Is It Ortiz or Arias?

SoonerCowboy

OK, Boston fans help out here. Why is David Ortiz's last name Arias on his 1997 Fller RC? And why did he change it? I have a 1998, that figures.
ARIAS?

perkdog

Funny you mentioned that, I saw a bunch of his rookie cards in a gift shop and on the sticker they had an overpriced $$ and "Arias" on it.

Do not know!

mosaic

I've never read an explanation, but it is very common for Latinos to have lengthy names and to change focus on the "last name" to honor a family member.

In this case, he's David Americo Ortiz Arias. One guess is that he went by Arias, but then changed to Ortiz to honor a family member, or to reflect some disrespect done by the Arias side. Alternatively, my other guess is that he went by Arias and switched to Ortiz to take focus AWAY from his family back home. Ballplayers' family members have been getting kidnapped in latin countries.

bigfische

They say you are not a true latin american if you dont have two last names. My buddy was told that by inmates at the polk county jail (he is a CO).

MooseDog

In most Spanish speaking countries in our hemisphere, it is customary to use both the family (father's surname) and the family name of the mother for a "full" name. It's usually formally done like so:

David Americo Ortiz (Arias) or David Americo (Arias) Ortiz.