fionamw

Scampicat mentioning Manolo and Juanjo in another thread reminded me I've been wondering if the Spanish world is populated with Juans, Pepes, Manolos, etc etc.
Are there some names that stand out as popular where you live? If so does anyone know a reason? Is it regional? Generation? Sociowhatever standing?
For example in the village I don't know any Gonzalos or Alvaros of school age (or any age) ... now 8yo has two of each in his class. Ditto Rocio. Village=nil. His class=2. Our track there are 4 Pepes, 2 Juans & 2 Joses (although the latter are father and son so probably don't count!
Forgot to explain he's moved from village school to Malaga...

steviedeluxe

I agree, it is a fascinating subject. Wasn't it illegal at one point to have a non-Spanish Christian name? Maybe there are new fashionable names like "Cesc" (ok an abbreviation), and "Melendi" ??? Some of the established names like Jesus and Soledad were quite entertaining, I thought.

bil

Everyone and his dog is called Manolo here, and if not that Francisco or juan or josé.

One thing, what's the logic in the change from José to pepe, or Francisco to paco or even curro????

HBG

I’m not being funny, but I live in Spain too. My neighbours are called Heino, Sonny, Horst, James, Ivan, two Pacos, and three Joses plus. And Vicente down the end, I call him Senor when I see him because I know he’s got a gun.

agoreira

José to Pepe, is from Saint Joseph, San José, the supposed father of Jesus, padre putativo, PP, Pepe.

bil

Excellent. Now let's see you deal with paco and curro!

Is another name for Joseph 'El Cornudo'?

agoreira

I'd have to look that one up! I have seen a couple of versions before, I think it's not as certain as Pepe.
I've come across this, but not sure how true it is.

paintermujer

I think the most popular name around here must be vicente.

Probably named after the much celebrated San Vicente who founded an underground water supply to our area 600 years ago.

The name is used for schools, street names and soooooo many men are called Vicente including our landlord.

A similar scenario really to Sir Francis Drake who brought water to Plymouth but I dont remember anyone called Francis in Plymouth.

cricketman

Spanish names have changed a lot over time.

Spanish people over 80 i.e. pre-Franco often have very localised and old fashioned names. I'm thinking of things like Ermedio, Ceferino etc. These are very often not linked to the bible. Then there are a couple of generations that have the traditional biblical names like Jose, Francisco, Pedro, Manuel, Miguel etc. And almost every Spanish woman was called Maria something.

Among the under 30s there are very few Manolos and Miguels and things are a bit more European. The most popular boys names among Spanish boys are now Hugo, Alvaro, Diego, Oliver (also popular in England!), Eric etc, still traditional names, but less biblical.

Local names come with the local languages, so there will be Basques called Iker, Aitor or Haritz and Catalans called Francesc (i.e. Cesc), Miquel, Jordi, Alexandre and Carles. The Catalans who were born in Franco's time were not allowed to give their children Catalan names, so they used the Castellano equivalent and changed their names officially when the democracy came.

agoreira

Talking about calling people names, gentilicios are the names they refer to people from a certain area/town etc. There are obvious one like madrileños, malagueños etc, both some not so obvious. Gaditanos are people from Jerez, onubenses are from Huelva etc. A lot come from their former latin names, Jerez was Gadir (also the name of a nice white wine from that area which I like), Huelva was Onuba. Plenty more interesting names around. A bit weird is Cabeza del Buey (Badajoz): caputbovense.

cricketman

No, Gaditanos are people from Cádiz. maybe people from Jerez are called Gaditanos because they live in Cádiz provence

fionamw

There are plenty of younger Franciscos actually called Francisco here; though there's one known as Franci instead of Paco. 8yo's Malaga girl classmates ..not a single Maria. In the village... plenty and some!
Oh, and what's the logic of Maria Jose?

As it happens, I thought caputbovense was pretty obvious for Cabeza del Buey (but I think that may just be my school Latin coming out!)

bil

Hmmm. Possible, but how the heck do they get curro?

agoreira

Yes, it´s an obvious direct translation, I just thought the "caput" "kaput" sounded amusing. Perhaps it´s just my weird sense of humour coming out!

Mitzyboy

Theres a lot of Jose's around here .... including my neighbour
He comes originally from Ourense, Galicia