Talk:Miguel Antonio Otero

Naming confusion

The naming of the three generations of Oteros is confusing and has been muddled by writers through the years.

• According to available evidence, the first Otero did not add any suffix to his name after his son was born. Modern historians often append Sr., but this cannot be considered correct as his son never used Jr. In My Life on the Frontier, 1864-1882, his son gave Otero the parenthetical suffix (I), but this probably was never used during Otero's lifetime.

• The second Otero also referred to himself without a suffix. But when clarification was necessary, as when describing his family in his autobiography, My Life on the Frontier, he used the parenthetical suffix (II) and specifically not Jr., since that is what he called his son. It is incorrect to refer to the second Otero as Jr.

• The third Otero was known as Miguel Antonio Otero, Jr. But in My Life on the Frontier, his father also refers to him as Miguel Antonio Otero (IV) -- not (III).

Examples of these usages can be found in My Life on the Frontier, pages iv, 280, 285, 286, and 292.

Because the two older Oteros had exactly the same name, there remains confusion over places that were named for them. Best evidence suggests that all three were named after Miguel Antonio Otero (I):

• Otero, New Mexico (ghost town in Colfax County), named in 1879.
• Otero County, Colorado, named in 1889.
• Otero County, New Mexico, named in 1899 while Miguel Antonio Otero (II) was territorial governor.

Reference: Otero, Miguel Antonio. My Life on the Frontier: 1864-1882 (Press of the Pioneers, 1935).