Calle de Martínez

The sign is a bare surname, no first name and no trade, on a short street in Berruguete. Neither the official street register nor the neighborhood chronicles record whom Martínez honors: a landowner, an early resident, a soldier of the African war, or no one in particular. The origin of the name was lost. What can be told is the weight of the surname. Martínez means “son of Martín,” and Martín comes from the Latin Martinus, derived from Mars, the god of war. In these four syllables beats a warrior’s name, fitting for a neighborhood built where the army returning from Tetuán in 1860 had camped. One of the most common surnames in Spain, placed here for reasons no longer known.