Asturian-American Migration Forum

My greatgrandfather's nickname was "Figales". We always assumed it meant "fig-grower," but that was probably just our anglification of the word.

Do any of your native bable or castillano speakers know what it might mean?

Xosé

I'm certainly not a native speaker of either castellano or asturianu, but "figales" to me mean fig trees, like perales (pear trees), manzanales (apple trees), etc., or a grove of such trees, or even the wood from such trees. The retention of the "f" suggests an Asturian rather than a Castillian origin for the name, at least to me.

Terechu and others? I would be interested in hearing you views.

While we're on the topic of figs, don't miss the opprtunity to try them cut in half and grilled over charcoal, then lightly drizzled with balsamic vingar and sprinkled with small pieces of crumbled Cabrales cheese (or any good blue cheese if Cabrales is unavailable).

I wonder if it could refer to a place? There are places in Asturias called "La Figal", but I didn't see any called "Figales".

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¿Me pregunto se refiere a un sitio? Hay poblaciones en Asturias llamadas "La Figal", pero no veo ningún sitio lamada "Figales".

It is so difficult to know why anyone was given a certain nickname! Figales is "fig trees", but it could have been a family nickname from the village days (any farm house with more fig trees than others might very well be called la casa de les figales and the family living there be known as the "figales").
Maybe he was the only specialist pruning fig trees in his neighbourhood? Or could it be a long-lost surname? Who knows?

There is a family in my hometown known as the "Mayucas" (dried chestnuts), because their surname is Castaño (chestnut) and they are all so short and skinny they look more like mayucas than like plump fresh chestnuts. People thought nothing of mocking you for a lifetime

Hi,

Yes we have been known as the Figales Family.

Xose it didn't come from your Great Grandfather...it came from your Great Grandmother Tomasa. My Father told me there were fig trees in the back of my Grandfather Jose Garcia's house in Spain...thus the name. The entire Garcia family were known as Figales.

Its funny because it also signified our tempers...we were known to have hot tempers...when someone would flare up it was said...because we were Figales. I suppose thats why we have locked horns on so many occasions. We have never been afraid to voice our opinion.

Back in the 80's we had a Family Reunion in Moundsville...we got together with our family...it was called the Figales Reunion.

In fact...your Great Great Grandfather nickname was Cuesta...reason being there was a hill in the back of his house in Spain. Thats how the story goes...I never called him anything but Uncle Cuesta and my parents always called him Cuesta. Funny...I never knew his name was Jose until I was probably a young adult.

Hope this explains the name it's exactly how we got it.

Sorry, in my post I referred to Cuesta as your Great Great Grandfather instead of Great Grandfather...

Barbara

Thanks for the info all, esp. Barbara!

Xosé

You're welcome...

Barbara

A relative of my grandfather has the nickname "Bis" or "Vis." This suggests to me a twin or some other sort of duplication. Can anyone shed light on the origin of the nickname?

Bob

Bob, "bis" means twice (bisabuelo = twice the grandfather), but there is a small village in the county Amieva called Vis. Since it was very common to nickname men after their village of origin, there's a pretty good chance that your relative or his ancestors were from Vis.

Thanks, Terechu. I wasn't aware of the village. If that is the origin of his apodo it would be the first relative outside of the area between Muros de Nalón and Gozón that I am aware of. "Twice" makes sense, "bis" has much the same meaning in music. Where does the tatar- in tatarabluelo, tataragüelu some from?

"Bis" or "Vis" was apparently notorious for sponging off relatives. Family lore has it that grandparents eventually kicked him out because he made absolutely no contribution to the household, but expected free room and board. The other boarders worked in the zinc smelter and paid for their keep. My grandmother not only provided meals, but did their laundry as well. The boarders shared a bedroom. People in those days generally worked hard, much harder than I have ever had to work.