Despite his achievements, information on Elcano is scarce and he is the subject of great historiographical controversy, because of the scarcity of original sources which illuminate his private life and personality.
Elcano died of scurvy in the Pacific Ocean during this venture. Elcano's name has been written in different ways by historians. However, near Getaria today between Zarautz and Aia is the neighborhood of Elkano, where the surname is "Elkano" or "Elcano". For this reason, "Elcano" has been used as a surname in Spanish and "Elkano" in Basque to indicate that it was from the Elkano lineage.
Mitxelena , in his book Apellidos vascos , [ 20 ] interprets the surname Elkano from Basque. Between the suffixes -ano and -no , he provides arguments for the latter, the diminutive suffix. He proposes that the first part of the surname is elge. It exists in different areas of the Basque Country as a minor place name, but also as the name of a village in Navarre.
The Portu or Puerto were a powerful family of clergy and scribes. Formerly it was believed that she belonged to a noble family of the Tolosa area. Next came Domingo Elcano, who was given the name of his father and became a priest in Getaria. The daughters, i. To his daughter he left 40 ducats, conditional on her coming to live in Getaria before she was 4 years old. A number of historians have said that the Elcanos were a family of maritime transporters who operated in the Mediterranean.
Some 19th century sources say that the Elcano family belonged to the nobility, but this is questionable. Elcano asked the king for the right to bear arms, a privilege of the nobles , [ 30 ] and for his brothers to accompany him on his next expedition, indicating that the Elcano brothers, on their father's side at least, were neither nobles nor hidalgos , and that the Portus, on their mother's side, were probably not nobles either.
