On Sagell Street the same surnames repeated, and almost the same first names too: Rafael, Gabriel, Onofre, Isabel, Margarita. To know whom people meant, something else was needed. That something was the nickname.
The files are full of them. Pere Onofre Cortès was «Moixina». Gabriel Cortés was «Pota». Gabriel Joseph Cortés, «the Consul». Jayme Cortés de Agustín, «el Esquerra», the Lefty. Bartolomé Tarongí, «the Count». Baltasar Joaquín Martí, «the Heir». There are also «Vila», «Filoa», «Moyanes» and «Moyanet», «la Borras», «Bendita», «Porro», «Xocente», «Felós», «el Seren», «Verdera», «Calenos», «Berder». The spy Rafael Cortés de Alfonso was called «cauaya loca», «crazy mare».
The names travel from one file to another, and each one carries a story. And people's reputations were set not by the tribunal but by the street itself: witnesses speak of people «held and commonly reputed on Sagell Street».
If your family has kept an old nickname, it may be the most useful clue you have. Sometimes a nickname leads further than a surname.
