People like Juan Carlos Onetti

Juan Carlos Onetti Borges (July 1, 1909 – May 30, 1994) was a Uruguayan novelist and author of short stories.

Onetti was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. He was the son of Carlos Onetti, a customs official of Irish descent, and Honoria Borges, a Brazilian who belonged to a Brazilian aristocratic family from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. He had two siblings: an older brother Raul, and a younger sister Rachel. He remembered his childhood as a happy time, describing his parents as a very close and loving couple with their children.

The original surname of his family was O'Nety (of Irish or Scottish origin). The writer himself commented: "the first to come here, my great-great-grandfather, was English, born in Gibraltar. My grandfather was the one who italianized the name".