We'll have to call her something!

Lots of Spaniards find my name difficult to pronounce and so they tend to Hispanicize it. I'm Crees-toff-air. I know that Ruth gets Root and I know at least one person who generally uses his name in the Spanish form, Ricardo rather than Richard. He says it's easier than repeatedly correcting the mispronunciation. 

Sometimes, of course, there is pure racism in the mispronunciation of a name, as in the case of Trump supporters and Kamala Harris or the renaming of someone because their name is "unpronounceable". Suggesting that a name is unsayable is a not too subtle form of belittling people by belittling the culture they come from. Last year's Twitter storm over the University teacher who suggested to Phuc Bui Diem Nguyen that she anglicised her name, because it sounded like an insult in English, comes to mind.

Anyway, although the politics of names might be an interesting post let's get back to where I started. 

I was doing one of my online italki sessions this morning, with Miriam, and we got to talking about pets having human type names. From there we drifted to names in general. We talked about how several names have a sort of internationalism behind them. Juan may be the Spanish equivalent of John, just as Vanya and Sion and Johann and Giovanni are in other countries, but there are lots of Spanish names that don't have that same correspondence with British names. For example I'm sure that most British people, living in Spain, know at least one Jesús but I don't think there's an Anglo equivalent. In much the same way Nacho, from Ignacio, might turn up in a PG Wodehouse book as Ignatius (and in the Cate Blanchett book of baby names) but it's not, exactly what you'd call a common name. 

Then, of course, we got onto how names have fashions. Teachers see this all the time. A class of five year olds might have several repeat names like Ryan and Brandon or Tiffany and Megan. We all know names that had brief popularity and now give us the approximate age of the particular person. Remember that spate of short "Victorian" names; the Emmas and Janes, Joshuas and Nathans? This didn't use to be the case in Spain because neither the Roman Catholic Church nor the Register Office were keen for someone to start calling their children Aleph, Apple, Blanket, Speck Wildhorse or Tu (all names used by "stars" for their offspring). There has always been plenty of choice for Spanish parents anyway because any old saint's name would do (and there are a lot of saints). Most Spaniards didn't want to call their children Alipio, Bonifacio, Nélia or Wulstana though so names like José, Carmen, Antonio, Manuel, María and Josefa became the norm. Those and the myriad of similar names that we bump into all the time.

Back at our chat Miriam told me that nowadays the restraints on names have generally been lifted and, in the new liberal climate, Basque names have become trendy in Spain. I just had a look at some of those web pages that suggest names for your new-born and it's true that there are pages and pages of Basque suggestions some of which I've bumped into - Aitor, Leire, Eloi, Nerea, Ainhoa and Ferran for example. There are lots of other "nationalist" names too, be they Catalan, like Carme or Enric, Galician like Uxía, Noa and Antía, or Valenciano like Bertomeu and Tonica. There are unisex names too but in suggesting names like René, Paz and Yeray as being usable for boys or girls we're straying into the Vivian, Beverly, Carol and Ainsley territory where, whatever the experts say, there is a different perception of the gender of those names at street level. 

Now, finally, I get to where this post has been going all along. What are the hip Spanish names of the moment? Well on pure statistics for girls it's Lucía, Sofía, Martina, María, Julia, Paula, Valeria, Emma, Daniela, and Carla whilst for the for boys it's Hugo, Mateo, Martín, Lucas, Leo, Daniel, Alejandro, Manuel, Pablo and Álvaro.

Just to round it off the most common names in the population in general are María Carmen, María, Carmen, Ana María, Josefa, María Pilar and Isabel on one side and Antonio, Manuel, José, Francisco, David, Juan and Javier on the other. Family name wise Garcia, González, Lopez and Sanchez head the list so if you know a María Carmen García or an Antonio Gonzalez you are not alone.

Names are not always what they seem

My latest book is a political biography about the bloke who was President of Spain, on the losing side, in the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War. I heard it reviewed on a podcast I listen to. Normally, when I read or hear about a potential book to read I download a sample to my eBook or save it to a wants list so that, when the time comes to buy something, I have a few queued up ready to compare and contrast. Like all the books I read in Spanish I will forget the title and author. Spanish names just don't stick. I've often had conversations with Spaniards asking if I've read something. I deny all knowledge but then, as they describe the content, I have to admit that I have.

I'd heard mention of a book by Benjamin Black on the Spanish radio; it was being offered as a competition prize. It turns out that Benjamin Black is a pen name for the Irish writer John Banville. I had never heard his name before yet I have no trouble at all remembering it. Why do I remember John Banville just as easily as I forget Josefina Carabias? I suppose the answer is because I'm British and the name John Banville (or Benjamin Black) has a resonance that a Spanish name doesn't. Of course it may be another sign of the years passing like my increasingly frequent visits to the toilet.

It's the same for Spaniards - namewise not bladderwise. My second name John doesn't flow properly for the majority of Spanish people who have to write it down. They often write Jhon instead which seems better, probably righter, to them. Spaniards typically have two surnames - dad's first and mum's second (though there's no problem with reversing them). So if I were named the Spanish way I'd be Christopher Thompson Marriot or maybe Christopher Marriot Thompson. Thompson was my dad's surname and Marriot my mum's maiden surname. Because I have two forenames - Christopher John - but only one surname - Thompson - lots of Spaniards presume that my first surname is John and my second surname is Thompson. Traditionally the first surname is used in address. Pablo Iglesias Turrión, one of our vice presidents, is usually referred to as Pablo Iglesias, for example. So I get lots of emails and post addressed to Sr. Christopher Jhon.

Old whotsisname

In the dialogues, in Spanish language text books, the characters all have names like Francisco Garcia and Maria Hernandez. It's true there are plenty of Marias and Franciscos in Spain. They are often disguised though. Many of the Marias are, for instance, Maria Luisa or Maria Dolores or Maria Mercedes so that they become Marisa, Lola or Merche whilst Francisco is Paco or Kiko. José Marias are Chemas. Hard going for the novice but not so different from the confusion that is Rob, Bob and Bobby or Chas, Charlie and Chuck. Christopher Marlowe was Kit after all - Kit Thompson anyone?

It may be true that Garcia, Gonzalez, Cueva, Rodríguez and Lopez are the most common Spanish surnames nationwide but it seems to me that nobody, whose name you want to remember, is that easy. To give a random example the authors of the present Spanish Constitution were Gabriel Cisneros, Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez de Miñón, José Pedro Pérez Llorca, Manuel Fraga, Gregorio Peces-Barba, Miguel Roca Junyent and Jordi Solé Tura. The woman who does the gossip show that Maggie watches is called Anne Igartiburu (Basque name) and the Spanish national football coach also has a Basque name, Julen Lopetegui. Other regions have local names too, so a Carlos becomes a Carles in Catalan like the honorary Belgian Carles Puigdemont. Sometimes the names themselves are straightforward enough but they are a bit on the long side. Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría is the vice president of the current conservative government and, in the last socialist government, we had a María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz. Neither of them of them are exactly Antonio Garcia or Maria Carmen González. Antonio and Maria Carmen are the most common first names, at present, amongst the Spanish population and Garcia and González the most popular surnames. By the way the most chosen names for newborns at the moment are Hugo and Lucia.

In Yorkshire, when I was a lad, there were lots of Sykes, Crossleys and Thorntons and around Pinoso we have Deltells, Alberts, Domenechs, Espinosas, Ricos, Miras, Escandells, Brotons and Carbonells as well as many more. When couples marry the children get a surname that is a combination of both surnames. If John Smith married Mary Bown they could choose either Peter Smith Brown or Peter Brown Smith for their son Peter with the Smith Brown order being the more traditional. A walk around the local cemetery reveals a veritable treasure trove of Carbonell Carbonell, Brotons Brotons and Rico Miras.