Eva Perón's Real Name: María Eva Duarte

Quick answer: The Argentine political figure is known as Eva Perón, and often as Evita. Encyclopedia.com and Britannica independently give the name María Eva Duarte and list a May 7, 1919, birth in Los Toldos, Argentina, and a July 26, 1952, death in Buenos Aires.

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented name María Eva Duarte. Encyclopedia.com says María Eva Duarte was born on May 7, 1919, in the village of Los Toldos in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, the youngest of five children of Juan Duarte and Juana Ibarguren, and that after her father's death the family moved to Junín. Britannica independently says Eva Perón was born May 7, 1919, in Los Toldos, Argentina, also known as Eva Duarte de Perón, Evita, and María Eva Duarte, and that her family later moved to Junín after her father died when she was six. Both accounts say she went to Buenos Aires as a teenager to pursue acting and found regular work in radio.

Career highlights

Encyclopedia.com says that in 1943 she met Colonel Juan Perón, then secretary of labor and social welfare, and that after he was arrested in October 1945 she helped organize a mass demonstration that led to his release; they married on October 21, 1945. Britannica independently says the two married in 1945, that he was briefly taken into custody after a coup later that year, and that after his release Eva was active in his presidential campaign, addressing supporters as los descamisados ("the shirtless ones"). Encyclopedia.com independently records the same label and says she campaigned in a way no Argentine woman had previously done. After his 1946 election, Encyclopedia.com says she campaigned for women's suffrage, which became law in 1947, with women voting in a national election in 1951, and later supervised social-welfare work at the María Eva Duarte de Perón Welfare Foundation. Britannica independently says she was largely responsible for the passage of the women's suffrage law, formed the Peronista Feminist Party in 1949, and used the Eva Perón Foundation to establish hospitals, schools, and other charitable institutions. It also says that in 1951 she obtained the nomination for vice president but the army forced her to withdraw.

Death

Encyclopedia.com says she died on July 26, 1952, at 32. Britannica independently records the death as July 26, 1952, in Buenos Aires.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Eva Perón, Evita, or María Eva Duarte are looking for the same political figure. Encyclopedia.com and Britannica support the name used in the title.