Surname

The first day of spring in 1972 occurred on March 20th…two days later, like the proverbial spring chicken, I came into this world. In the years that followed, while going through grade school, high school, and college, I moved around a lot to various countries and always felt untethered, a nomad without a hometown…without roots. So, I focused on my education, friendships, relationships and on surmounting the obstacles that I encountered while taking advantage of a few opportunities along the way. In my mid-twenties I experienced marriage, fatherhood, divorce, got laid off, and had to declare bankruptcy. By my mid-thirties, I focused on rebuilding every aspect of my life. This personal renaissance lasted approximately ten years…the Summer of my life, you might call it. Now, as I enter my late forties, I acknowledge that I’m no longer a spring chicken, but, rather a battle-scarred rooster content and at peace with myself. Moreover, I have probably lived over half my life already (knocks on wood) and am most likely entering the early autumn of my existence. This realization compelled me to look inward as an individual, backwards towards my heritage and deeper into my roots.

So, what’s in a surname? One of my favorite shows until the final unsatisfying season, Game of Thrones, highlights the humor one can find in a name. I speak of course, of Daenerys’ long-winded title, a composite of her first (given name) and family name (surname) along with all the titles she accumulated in her quest for the Iron Throne. “Daenerys of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, The Unburnt, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Protector of the Realm, Lady Regent of the Seven Kingdoms, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons”. If this tradition continued today, my name might come out something like this: “Daniel of the House Greenlee, the first of his name, the curly haired and olive skinned, the infinitely positive, traveler of continents, father of twins, survivor of marriage and bankruptcy, rebuilder of life, master of little people, lover of coffee, seeker of truth, teller of bad jokes.”

Every family story begins somewhere, and I can't think of a more appropriate place to start than with the origins of my family surnames. The paternal side of my family, the Greenlee's, originate in Armagh, Ireland and my father's maternal line, the Twyman's originate in Scotland. On my mother's side, her paternal line, the Murillo's go back to Spain via Bolivia, as does my mother's maternal line, the Claros family. A surname goes to the root of our sense of self…it follows us throughout life and often defines our personalities throughout our school years and provides a context for camaraderie with our friendships and relationships. Throughout my life and my career, I have found that asking six simple questions iteratively defines the root of any issue. These six questions: (1) Who, (2) What, (3) When, (4) Where, (5) Why, and (6) How, all come in handy regardless of whether the issue at hand is personal, professional, or historical. By boiling any topic down to answering these questions, we can understand a person, place or thing completely through the prism of six dimensions. Of course, this only works if you can answer all six questions accurately. With genealogical and family history research, the lack of primary resources leaves much of what we find, up to supposition or to the creative interpretation of facts we do find. With that caveat in mind, one question I hope to answer during my research lies in the origins of my family names. In particular the question of "Why"…why did my ancestors decide to assign their particular surnames to their families?