Calderón

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Calderón is a Spanish surname. It may refer to the following persons:

• Alberto Calderón, Argentine mathematician
• Felipe Calderón, President of Mexico
• Felipe G. Calderón, Filipino constitutionalist
• Francisco García Calderón Landa, President of Peru in 1881
• Francisco García Calderón Rey, Peruvian writer and diplomat, representative at the Evian Conference in 1938
• Ivan Calderón, Puerto Rican boxer
• Ivan Calderón (baseball player), Puerto Rican baseball player
• Jorge Calderón, long-time musical collaborator with Warren Zevon
• José Calderón, Spanish basketball player, currently of the NBA Toronto Raptors
• José Luis Calderón, Argentine footballer
• Leticia Calderón, Mexican actress
• Manny Calderon, Publisher of Presa Latina, Nebraska's "Spanish/English" Newspaper. All publications are archived at the Nebraska Historical Society, University of Nebraska Lincoln.
• Nissim Calderon (נסים קלדרון) Israeli literary critic of Sephardi origin.
• Oscar Calderón, chief of Philippine National Police
• Lee Davidson Calderon, mountain biker, mountain climber, motorbike rider
• Mercedes Calderón, Cuban volleyball player
• Paco Calderón, Mexican political cartoonist
• Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish dramatist
• Rafael Ángel Calderón, Father and son Costa Rican presidents
• Philip Hermogenes Calderon, British painter of Spanish origin
• Ramón Calderón, Real Madrid president
• Robert Calderon, inventor of the slap bracelet
• Ronald Calderon or Charles M. Calderon, brothers and concurrent Californian politicians
• Sila María Calderón, former Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
• Tego Calderón, Puerto Rican rapper

[edit] Surname origin

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007)

The origins of the Calderón surname are quite varied and are difficult to verify. In Spanish, Calderón means "cauldron". Legend holds that the first man to bear the name was called Fortun Ortiz Calderón^[1]. It is said that he was a stillborn baby, and his parents, thinking him dead, placed him in a nearby cauldron. The child "awoke" and alerted his parents with his cries. From then on, the last name Calderón was forever attached to him. This is said to have happened in the town of Nograro, Spain around the start of the 13th century.

Several sources continue to tell the tale of Fortun into old age. He is said to have been the illegitimate child of Fortun Sanchez de Salcedo, the sixth lord of Ayala. He went on to become a powerful knight and ricohombre of Castile in the service of King Alfonso X. His lands included the towns of Nograro, Oteo, Quincoces, Gorunde and Villamaderni. He had four children, Francisco (prior of San Juan convent), Sancho (comendador of San Juan, died fighting the Moors and given credit for the family motto), Elvira and another daughter whose name has been lost. Fortun died after spending the last years of his life leading his clan in a war against the Angulo clan. His remains are said to be buried in the Santa Maria de Herrera monastery (between the towns of Aro and Miranda). Most of his story is told by his son-in-law Lope Garcia de Salazar (married Elvira), known as the first historian of Biscaya (present day Basque territory). Sadly, it is not believed that any of Fortun's sons had children or where able to carry on the family name.

Meanwhile, other historians dismiss this story as myth without fact. They consider a verifiable forebearer of the Calderón's to be Pedro Ruiz Calderón, born around 1213. He is first mentioned in the documents of the Abbey of Santa Maria Aguilar de Campoo, in the north part of the current province of Palencia near the border of Cantabria. He also had an extensive family.

It could be the name is associated with metalworkers who worked on cauldrons as the Middle Ages; it was quite common to give a man a surname related to his profession.

Calderón is also a very common surname between the descendants of Sephardi Jews, mainly those who migrated to Turkey. It is also current in contemporary Israel in Hebrew transliteration (קלדרון). The 2007 Tel Aviv telephone directory lists more than fifty families named Calderon.

Family Motto: I will die for the faith. (Por la fe morire.) Legend holds that Sancho Ortiz Calderón uttered these words as he refused to renounce his faith when captured by the invading Moors.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Calderón Ancestry webpage