Jiménez (surname)
Jiménez is a patronymic surname of Iberian origin, first appearing in the Basque lands. Jiménez is a patronymic construction from the modern-styled given name "Jimeno", plus the Spanish suffix "-ez", representing 'son of' Jimeno. The root appears to stem from Basque "semen" ('son'), attested in Aquitanian inscriptions as "Sembeconnis" and like forms. The patronymic appears in the 10th century Latin Códice de Roda genealogies as "Scemenonis". Variants of the surname include Jimenes, Ximénez/Ximenes, Giménez/Gimenes, Chiménez, Chimenes, Seménez, Semenes, Ximenis or Eiximenis in Catalonia, in Sicilian Scimemi or Scimeni and the Neapolitan Chimenz or Chimenez. In  Spanish orthography, the variations of "Jiménez" that end with a "z" are written with an acute accent on the second syllable. In English, all variations are commonly written without the diacritic. In Portuguese orthography, there is no diacritic used for Ximenes. Spelling. As the modern name "Ximenes" has an "-es" suffix, it is almost certainly of Portuguese, Galician or Old Spanish origin, as the orthographic change to "-ez" (and the consonant shift from X to J) was revised in Spain only in the late 18th century. This was not the case in Portugal. Other languages in Castilian-dominated lands like  Aragon, Asturias, Galicia, often retained the "-es" ending, and their descendants bear witness to this historical anomaly. In Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearics, the ending "-is" is used instead of "-es" (or "-ez"), hence, the spelling Ximenis (or the variant with vowel epenthesis, Eiximinis or Eximenis). Ximenes is found most commonly in Portugal, and in all of the ex-Portuguese Crown territories, especially in Brazil. Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Nobel Laureate from East Timor in 1996, and Brazilian actress Mariana Ximenes are prime examples of this historical difference. Ruling dynasty. The Jiménez dynasty is a name sometimes given a  dynasty that in 905 became kings of Pamplona, eventually expanding their control to most of Christian Iberia.