Haruki's way

〜スペイン・この不可思議な国〜

nickname

In Spain, there exist so many religious names.

There are some names similar to English ones, for example, María and Juan (John), which are used quite often. On the other hand, some *super* religous names such as Jesus (the pronunciation is different though) and María-Jesus surprised me, as it would be too religious or even blasphemous in the English context.

Here are some nicknames I found interesting:

  • Maite = María Teresa
  • Mireia, Marisa = María Luisa
  • Menchu = Caramenchu
  • Lola = Dolores
  • Visi = Visitación
  • Encarna = Encarnación
  • Merche = Mercedes
  • Maribel = María Isabel
  • Marisol = María de la Soledad

Almost all the names are Christian. For example, Encarnación means reincarnation of Christ, and Visitación means “Visitación de la Virgen María a su prima Santa Isabel”, Virgin Mary’s visit to her niece Santa Isabel.

If you know something else, please let me know 🙂

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6 Comments

  1. Hi Haruki,

    This is my first comment, I found your blog througt Guindilla’s. Very interesting!

    I’m a spanish girl but my name is english, Pamela. My mother is María Dolores, her nickname is “Loli” (or Lola), very different, isn’t it? And my father is Santiago “Santi”, a christian apostol. In Spain, the most of people has a christian name but the most of people are not very religious, it’s just tradition, hehe!

    Regards!
    Pam

  2. Hi Pam!

    Thanks for your posting and welcome to my HP! Ok, I’ll have to add your mom’s name to my blog 🙂 Although many people are not that religious as before, still I can see that there’s some strong emotion in all the religious events such as Semana Santa. It’s an important part of your culture and I appreciate it a lot. Well… I’m still learning a lot, so your comments and insights are always welcome!

  3. Wow! Thank you a lot for include my mother’s name!

  4. Hello I’m new here and just wanted to say hi. Send me a PM if anyone wanna chat sometime i’m open for conversations.