Jordà, Joan PauAmeijeiras Alonso, JoséPujadas Mora, Joana Maria2019-04-232019-04-232018Jordà, J., Ameijeiras-Alonso, J., & Pujadas-Mora, J. (2018). Chronicle of an early demise, surname extinction in the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries. Historical Methods: A Journal Of Quantitative And Interdisciplinary History, 51(3), 190-201. doi: 10.1080/01615440.2018.14627470161-5440http://hdl.handle.net/10347/18673This is the Author’s Original Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History on 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01615440.2018.1462747It has been amply demonstrated that individuals' reproductive capability is the key explanatory phenomenon for understanding onomastic disappearance during the early modern period. This article analyzes the evolution and consequences of surname extinction in a specific population: Catalonia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this article two aspects are examined. First, the observed disappearance of surnames is estimated through historical data collected in the Llibres d'Esposalles (Marriage Books) from 1481 to 1600 at Barcelona Cathedral. Second, the estimated natural extinction of those surnames registered in 1481 is forecast by applying a statistical branching processeng© Taylor & Francis, 2018BarcelonaBranching processCataloniaEarly modern periodLlibres d'esposalles (marriage books)Onomasticsjournal article10.1080/01615440.2018.14627471940-1906open access