I struggle with names whatever country I'm living in, but it is twice as hard to catch a name when you are meeting people and all the names sound unfamiliar. Two helpful tricks, Spanish names:
1) very frequently come from the Bible, and
2) are often compound, which is to say a person has two first names.
It doesn't take long to discover that in Spain, and in fact most Catholic countries, many people have two first names, or more accurately a compound name. This is not quite the same as in the United States, where people have a first and then a "middle name," because in Spain the name order is fixed by tradition (i.e. Juan or José go first). In the U.S. the middle name is really a second, alternative name by which a person can choose to go. While in Spain often the second name (the non Juan, José, or María name) _can_ become a person's used name, some of the second names in Spain could _never_ be used as their stand-alone name, for reasons that will become clear in a moment.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of common compound names, as well as common composites of the names used to distinguish one John or Mary from another:
Men: Common composites:
José María Josema, Josemari
José Antonio
José Luis Joselu
José Miguel Josemi
José Ramón
Juan Andrés
Juan Bautista Juanba
Juan Carlos Juanca
Juan David
Juan José Juanjo
Juan Manuel Juanma
Juan Pablo Juanpa
Miguel Ángel
Women:
Ana Belén Anabel
Ana Lucía
Ana María
María José Mariajo
María Isabel Maribel
María de los Ángeles Mariángeles
María (del) Carmen Maricarmen, Maica
María Eugenia Maru, Maruja
María Cruz Maricruz
María Paz Maipa
María Teresa Maite
So as you can imagine, men don't go by "María" and women wouldn't go by "José," despite having them as a second first name. Morevover, the widespread use of the composite names helps distinguish the many Marías and Juans from each other.
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Celebrating one's Saint's Day is also common
in Italy, as this greeting card shows. |
One reason for the common occurrence of these biblical names is tied to the Catholic calendar. In the past, one tradition was to name your child after the saint who's Saint's Day corresponded with his or her birthday. (Though much like in most countries all over the world, the most typical source for names are parents or other family members' names.) However, what is more common is for people to be named independently of whatever Saint's day their birthday happens to fall on, and then to celebrate
their name day, the "
día del santo" or "
onomástica" when the saint with the same name is celebrated on the
"santoral" (the Catholic calendar of the saints), much like a second, lesser birthday. They might get sweets from their family members, some small token or treated out to some small occasion and made the center of attention. Usually it's nothing special, just one more excuse throughout the year for people to show their affection. Following in this tradition,
father's day is aligned with the saint's day of José (adopted father of Christ) on the 19th of March.
