Juanes Arambarri, the grandfather of this lineage, was born on the 7th of August 1576, in a place called of Arambarri in Okondo, a little town in the Basque Country. In 1615 in Azkoitia was born Pedro Arambarri as a result of a relationship between Juanes Arambarri and Ana Echeverria.

Okondo, Basque Country. The place called of Arambarri, today.

• Pedro Arambarri married Christina Elorza in Azkoitia and they had ten children: Francisco (1642), Mariana (1645), San Juan (1647), Joseph (1649), Josepha (1650), Ignacio (1652), Sevastian (1655), Brigida (1657), Maria Cruz (1659) and Maria Veronica (1664).

• Ignacio Arambarri (1652) married Ana Iriondo in Azkoitia and all their descendants in the next five generations have lived in Azkoitia. In 1679 was born their son, Ignacio Arambarri II.

Azkoitia, the heart of the Basque Illustration in the 18th century. Many generations of Arambarri have been baptized in this church.

• Francisco Arambarri, born in 1704, was son of Ignacio Arambarri II and Francisca Garate.

• The son of Francisco Arambarri and Ana Maria Alberdi, born in 1736, was called also Francisco Arambarri.

Gorrinaga. The farmhouse, today.

• Francisco Arambarri II married Josepha Alberdi. Their son was Vicente Arambarri, born in Azkoitia in 1764.

• Vicente Arambarri married Josefa Eguino and they settled in Azpilgoeta, in a farmhouse called Gorrinaga.

• Josefa Eguino died in 1814 and Vicente Arambarri married three years later Lorenciana Oruesagasti. In the picture the holy water font (1663) of the Trinity Church, in Garagarza, where they married.

• Vicente Arambarri changed his surname, from Arambarri to Aramberri (the word barri/berri means “new” in Basque. The first word is the western dialect, and the second one is the eastern form). On the right, their coat-of-arms. Both surnames have the same.

• Luis Aramberri was son of Vicente Arambarri and Josefa Eguino, and he was born in Azpilgoeta in 1800. Luis Aramberri I, carpenter and blacksmith, married Josefa Arano and they moved away to the ancient watermill of Andikao, in Elgoibar, where their son Domingo Aramberri (below) was born in 1843. He was my grandfather.

• Domingo Aramberri, set up as a gunsmith in Eibar, married Modesta Mallabiabarrena. Their youngest son (of eighteen) was Luis Aramberri II, my father. He was born in Eibar in 1908 and died in 2000.

• Luis Aramberri II, dry cleaner and dyer, married Aurora Mendizabal in 1941. They were my parents and had four children: Maite (1942), Luis (1945), Inaki (1947) and Xabier (1955). I am Luis Aranberri III, journalist, born in 1945.

• In the last forty years, the surname Aramberri is usually written in Basque like Aranberri (with "n"), not in Spanish (with "m"). Therefore, all the twelve grandsons and granddaughters (below, in the last picture) of my father, Luis Aramberri II, call themselves as Aranberri (-ARAN, valley, -BERRI, new). They are the 10th generation after the birth of the first known ancestor Juanes Arambarri, in the 16th century.

• I have got three children:Mikeldi Aranberri (lawyer, 1970), Ana Aranberri (journalist, 1972) and Ibon Aranberri (chemist, 1974).

• Mikeldi (Vicens, Vicente), Ana (Anne) and Ibon (John, Juan, Juanes) are names closely related with their ancient predecessors: Vicente Aramberri who was the first Aramberri (18th century), and Juanes Arambarri and Ana Echeverria who were the grandparents of all of us (17th century).

• In the picture, the church of Saint Roman of Okondogoiena where Juanes Arambarri was baptized in 1576.

PD: For further information, you can look up in this blog in Basque and in Spanish or write to lamatinoateuskalnet.net

The Aranberri family in 1990. Standing, from left to right, Inaki Aranberri (son), Maite Aranberri (daughter), Luis Aranberri II (father), Xabier Aranberri (son) and Aurora Mendizabal (mother). Kneeling, first on the left, Luis Aranberri III (son).

Main source: Inaki Aranberri