Take a moment to consider your surname, because it might hold the secrets of the sea, the mountains, and the cobbled streets of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza had their own kings, merchants who crossed the sea, and a unique blend of Catalan, Arab, and even Italian blood—all of which is captured in the surnames that families throughout Spain and the Americas bear today. In this special video of almost 20 minutes, we explore fifteen of them: for each one, we tell you its origin and the story it holds, with verified facts. Notice a detail as we go along—many sound quite unusual to the rest of Spain, with endings and sounds that exist only on the islands, because they arose from a unique language and centuries of isolation in the middle of the sea.

We travel through Caimari, Binimelis, Mesquida, Ferragut, Prohens, Estelrich, Llull, Sureda, Amengual, Cardell, Femenías, Bennàsser, Bauzá, Quetglas, and #1—from the Arab farmhouses beginning with "Bini," "sons of," to the Catalan word that simply means "mosque"; from the cork oak forest to the name almost unpronounceable outside the islands, a surname with a protected designation of origin. Don't leave before the end: surname #1 hides a mask... and it was borne by the Mallorcan who translated the sacred texts of India with such beauty that even the Beatles were inspired by his words; #9 was borne by one of the greatest geniuses of the Middle Ages, a sage who designed a "thinking machine" with rotating discs seven centuries before computers; And number 14 begins with the name the Arabs used for lineages—a testament to the fact that Mallorca has over two hundred places starting with "Bini," a record unmatched by any other region in Spain. Tell us in the comments which island you think you're from, and if you share any of these surnames.