TheGuardian style guide
© Guardian Newspapers Limited
take an accent over the penultimate vowel, eg Benítez, Fernández, Giménez, Gómez, González, Gutiérrez,
Hernández, Jiménez, López, Márquez, Martínez, Núñez, Ordóñez, Pérez, Quiñónez, Ramírez, Rodríguez, Sáez,
Vásquez, Vázquez, Velázquez. Exception: Alvarez; note also that names ending -es do not take the accent, eg
Martines, Rodrigues.
Other surnames
Aristízabal, Beltrán, Cáceres, Calderón, Cañizares, Chevantón, Couñago, Cúper, Dalí, De la Peña, Díaz, Forlán,
García, Gaudí, Miró, Muñoz, Olazábal, Pavón, Sáenz, Sáinz, Valdés, Valerón, Verón.
Forenames
Adán, Alán, Andrés, César, Darío, Elías, Fabián, Ginés, Héctor, Hernán, Iñaki, Iñés, Iván, Jesús, Joaquín, José,
Lucía, María, Martín, Matías, Máximo, Míchel, Raúl, Ramón, Róger, Rubén, Sebastián, Víctor
The forenames Ana, Angel, Alfredo, Alvaro, Cristina, Diego, Domingo, Emilio, Ernesto, Federico, Fernando,
Ignacio, Jorge, Juan, Julio, Luis, Marta, Mario, Miguel, Pablo and Pedro do not usually take accents.
Placenames
Asunción, Bogotá, Cádiz, Catalonia, Córdoba, La Coruña, Guantánamo Bay, Guipúzcoa, Jaén, Jérez, León,
Medellín, Potosí, San Sebastián, Valparaíso.
Sports teams, etc
América, Atlético, El Barça (FC Barcelona), Bernabéu, Bolívar, Cerro Porteño, Deportivo La Coruña, Huracán,
Málaga, Peñarol,
Note:Spanish is an official language in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela,
Spanish practices, Spanish customs
old Fleet Street expressions to be avoided
span of years
1995-99; but between 1995 and 1999, not between 1995-99
spare-part surgery
avoid this term
spastic
do not use
Speaker, the (Commons) but deputy speaker (of whom there are several)
special
usually redundant
Special Immigration Appeals Commission
Siac or “the commission” on second mention
spelled/spelt
she spelled it out for him:“the word is spelt like this”