User talk:Luc31

-- About 'García' --

Dear Luc,

First of all: I have no wish to offend! (if 'García' happens to be a family surname which is important to you). To tell the truth- I had the very clear impression that the names listed on the page you're mentioning were supposed to be 'typically FRENCH' ones (= derived from the FRENCH LANGUAGE). As it is- I've nothing against 'García' appearing (especially when I myself have so links to Spanish- my mother language!), but I'm embarrassed by this list. Here's why- there are TWO main reasons.

First reason:

1.- I'm not very much in favour of a list of 'names to be found in France', giving 'STATISTICS'; as you know, such 'statistics' change at great speed (but here I'm not speaking yet about the more specific question of 'García'; I'm making a much more general remark).

2.- As for 'García': it IS, indeed, still probably the most common family name to be found in France, of SPANISH origin. Actually, it IS a good idea to give family names found in France which have OTHER origins than just 'typically French': but if one does this, one should have also OTHER names, than just names of Spanish origin. This would help underline the great importance, in France, of immigration from other countries (and not just Spain- but Portugal, as well; and just to give one more example).

About Spanish family names : it'd be interesting to know how many 'Rodriguez' there are- couldn't they possibly be even more numerous than 'García'? And, as concerns, in France, names of Portuguese origin, there are a huge number of people called 'RIBEIRO', or 'RIBERO'!

FINALLY: I think it would be worthwhile putting in one or two names of ARAB origin, which have also got very frequent in France. I'm sure we'd find here that there IS a problem with using 'statistics': as you probably know, many institutions don't much like showing that we have a great deal of Arab immigrants. And yet- putting in at least ONE Arab name (if it's felt by us to be a REALLY frequent name) would be a good way of fighting prejudice.

The same thing could be said of one or two 'typically Jewish' names, as well- some names are so frequent among the Jewish community that they could also count among 'frequent' names in the whole of France.

So: please do NOT consider my 'irruption' as a wish to offend or falsify- but I think we should give a much larger picture of family names in France, AND mention the existence of very frequent family names which are NOT 'derived from the French language'.

I think I'd just DROP THE WHOLE IDEA OF 'PERCENTAGES': it seems to me the best 'close-to-scientific' solution, anyway.

I'm always slightly suspicious about such 'statistics'... For instance, you could just say that these are 'among the most commonly found family names found in France' (and, of course, you KEEP 'GARCIA'), but- you don't give NUMBERS. Because: we CAN'T BE 'SURE' about numbers (and THAT's what counts, after all: if one gives statistics, they should be VERY reliable). I hope you'll understand this long message. Do follow on with your work! Best regards,

Elisabeth Cottier Fábián 22:16, 2 April 2006 (UTC)