What does talamantes mean?

Answer 1

This is not an official meaning but it deserves some thought. Talamantes or Talamantez could be a combination of two Spanish words, "tal" and "amante".

Open a Spanish dictionary and what most would agree with is that the "tal" means "such a one" and that the "amante" means "fond, caring, charitable, lover". Put them together and add an "s" at the end, and you now have the plural version of "such a caring one". There may be other meanings in other Spanish dictionaries.

The older Spanish speaking generations of Mexican Americans often would use these two words in their general conversations. You may have heard "que tal?", "tal cosa", "zutano de tal", "es muy amante", or "tu eres mi amante". Both of these words have all but disappeared among most Americans of Mexican or any Latino descent. There is also a small township in Spain bearing the name of Talamantes.

So, how did the "z" come about? There's two thoughts behind that. One is that there were Jewish citizenry in Spain who were tagged with the "z". The other is that the "z" was a misunderstanding when children were being enrolled into USA schools in the first half of the 20th century. I was among them.

My birth certificate and the original Social Security card shows an "s", but my school records and all personal information since then show a "z". It happened to other Spanish names that normally ended with an "s". But, I digress.

This should help answer the question for so many (plurals) Talamantes and Talamantez.