most popular names in Spain?

Hi...I was just looking at different names and I started to think about most popular girls/boys names. Can anyone think of some names you hear a lot(in Spain)?

Judging from conversations overheard on the streets, there seem to be an inordinate number of women in Spain named "¡Oye wapa!"

oo, oo,oo,pick me, pick me! I know of a couple of popular names! Ready for this one. Maria! That's a girls name. And for the boys, a popular one is, get this, Juan!

I think I met a guy named Jose once in Spain.

Carmen, Mercedes, Paloma, Cristina, Milagros, Ana, Esperanza...
Boys:
Antonio, Fernando, Felipe, Agustin,Carlos, Miguel...

Thanks Booklady!

Fernando is not common nor uncommon hehehe

Fernando

I've met rather a lot of Luises, Josés, Marías, Juans and Manuels, and the occasional Fernando, Eva, and one or two Jesúses. And, of course, Catalunya has a great many guys named Jordi.

don´t forget Javier...

especially not Javier Bardem!

I once heard the girl-name "Concepción".

I often thought it odd to have the mixed-sex (?) names like José María for men and María José for women. Why is this?? I think years ago I once got confused and called a guy María José. :o Both names are very common in Spain.

Didn't Steinback call one of his characters, "Jesus Maria José" in Tortilla Flats?

In answer to your question MM, for many centuries prior to the 20th, it was very common to add Maria in boys names because of the Marian following among Spanish Catholics. To some extent the same was true in other Catholic countries. Catholics were and some still are encouraged to name their children after a saint.
If you were born on the day that also happened to be Mary's or Joseph's birthday, then Maria y Jose was added to your name if you were of opposite sex, or that became your name, in many cases the name Jose became Josefa for women. I had a classmate named Carlos Maria, when he called on the phone, I would tell my mother,(those of you with Spanish mothers know how they like to interrogate you) it's only Maria from school, and I'd be telling the truth!

This tradition has been declining since the early 20th century.

In France and Belgium it also exists. (and still!)
Jean-Marie for boys and Marie-jeanne for girls.

I like Paloma a lot. Even if you didn't know that it meant dove (or pigeon for the less-poetic), it just sounds beautiful. I also like Ainhoa though I have no idea what it means in Basque. It just sounds beautiful and feminine. Paz is also good as well. Then there is every variation of Maria and Maria-compounded and Ana, along with Carmen. But I wonder if there are any generational differences and I'm betraying the age group I deal with. For men, Juan and Juan Pablo are very popular (including my parking garage attendants), as are Jose (Pepe), and Jesus.

How about Marisa ? Marisa is really Maria Luisa...so I'm not sure how many people use Marisa instead. I love going to Spain and seeing keychains and things like that with my name on it . It's not fair...shops in the USA always have Marissa instead of Marisa.

hello everybody

theres also a bunch of spanish names in other spanish languages.
in catalan:
jordi,pau,monserrat,joan
in galego:
adega,xuana,lois
in euzkera:
inaki,ainhoa,mikel
in castellano:
maria,jose,miguel

Eduardo, Ainhoa girl with that name!


Actually, I think all men in Spain are given unique names at birth, but when they turn sixty, they seem to all unify under the name "¿Qué pasa, [censored]?"

More fun Basque names: Izazkun and Iranzu, Aitziber, Igone. Iziar means Estrella, which is nice. Kinda like that lady on The View, Iziar Jones.

Canarian Names: Girls, Guacimar, Guarmina, Aythami, Gara Boys, Ruiman, Acaimo, MENCEY!,

oops, typo, that is...Guacimara, Guayarmina...

2 weeks ago we had a Basque boy in our family for a school exchange. His name was Peio. Sounds nice.

I know WAY too many Spanish Veronicas, Vanessas, Davids, Pablos and Jose Ignacios (Nachos). I don't know if they're POPULAR names, but I know four people (with the exception of Vanessa - I know 6!) with those names.

melinda

Ainhoa is the name of a virgen from that area of Gipuzkua. Here is a web page that has lots of names from different languages and what they signify.

Baby names web page

As far as guys names go...Iv only been here in Granada for a little over 2 months- but I have 3 friends named Miguel Angel!! 3!!!!
Kelly

He, he, he! Booklady, Paloma is only a fairly common name in Madrid, since 'La Virgen de la Paloma' is one of the two patron saints of this city (the other one is the very "arabic-ish" Almudena, also a female name); outside of Madrid is pretty unusual, when I was growing up in Zaragoza, I attended a school with 1800 students and there were only two other Palomas besides me (Of course there were countless girls named Pilar!!!) In the Basque Country, there are some girls named Usue (not 100% sure about the spelling), that's paloma (dove) in Basque; and it would be Coloma (or Colomba) in 'Catalán'.

The same names aren't the most popular ones all the time, some become very "in" sometimes....when I was little I had lots of little friends called Eva and Marta, Beatriz, Sandra (Alejandra) or Susana....more recently, there seem to be a good number of Andreas, Ineses, Carlotas and Lucías being born, as for boys, I hear Daniel and Javier a lot these days, and Manuel, Jose, Juan, Carlos, Pablo, Luis, Francisco or Nacho (Ignacio) are of course all-time favourites.

Now, the name Maria comes usually as a "nombre compuesto' (compound name¿?), like Maria Isabel (Maribel), Maria José, Maria del Carmen (Maricarmen or Mamen),...also José (also known as Pepe or Pepito) becomes very often: José Miguel, José Luis, José Maria (Aznar ).

P.S.: Thanks Eduardo for your comments! (BTW, I guess we call pigeons "pichones').
Martine, Maria de la Concepción is indeed a quite common name! (though we call them Conchas or Conchitas, and please don't ask me the meaning of concha for Argentinians! :o ), but not only that, Inmaculada (immaculate) is also very common!!! Also, I believe Peio is Basque for Pedro (Peter).

...And don't ask me the meaning of peter for some English speakers.

A marriage of a Concha and a Peter would seem a match made in slang heaven.

I love the names Julia, Marisol, and Paloma. I met a girl named Mon[t?]se (for Mon[t?]serrat?) in Salamanca, and had a close friend Isabel (she used the nickname "Isa."). I dated an Arturo and an Antonio, and had a friend with the nickname Nacho (for Ignacio). I like Javi (Javier) also.

I dated Antonio too! He was a tallish shortish guy with blondish brownish hair about yea big, no?

I like Iñaki, but my BASQUE wife doesn't! Traidora...

Peio is also spelled Peyo, and is fairly common among Navarros and French Basques. We knew a few Basque fellows named Patxi, too. That was always a nice nickname. I like Aitor, Lorea (girl) and Maite, which means Love.

Here's one you probably don't want: Epigmenio...yes, Epigmenio!

Calibasco,

"I dated Antonio too! He was a tallish shortish guy with blondish brownish hair about yea big, no?"

Your "friend" Antonio sounds a lot like Sergio from Rio.


Saludos
Shawn.

The two most common names in Madrid in 1996, the year my son was born so I paid attention, were:

Alvaro: for boys
Marta: for girls

It must be true as he has 5 Alvaros in his class of 25 kids, and 4 Danis (Daniel), double names (José Antonio, etc. are now out...there are none), no Jesús either.

Pim writes: Not! Madrid's one and only Patron Saint: San Isidro (Isadore the Worker) who's Feast day is celebrated each year on 15 May.

My wife's first cousin baptized 'Soledad' goes by 'Paloma.' The first I knew about that was when we were buying an airline ticket for her using my F/F Miles - on her (Spain) Passport she is Soledad! el Catedral de la Almudena adjacent to the Palacio Réal may have something to do with that. But a Medico friend who's daughters are Almudena and Aranzasu (like Aranxa Sanchez) told me both were Euskadi names.

Marisa: Another first cousin of my wife's is Maria Luisa (as was her mother). She goes by 'Mari Li' and we used to call her mother 'Tia Li.'

Eddie,

Madrid does have two patron saints: San Isidro, and Almudena. They celebrate her day on November 9th.

Almudena facts

As for the origin of the name, I don't know for sure, but most names and words that begin with "al" are indeed of arabic influence.

Cheers

La Virgen de la Paloma, known as "La Patrona del Pueblo de Madrid' and which tradition is a little more recent than the others, is celebrated on August 15th., and the Almudena, on November 9th. (no school and day off work for us those days, he, he! ). There used to be a third one, Atocha, but that was the King and Queen's really ("la Patrona de los Reyes'!), I guess that explains why she “doesn't count anymore” so to speak. Sorry Eddie, but any Spanish speaker knows that words such as; almohada(pillow), aldea(village), alcoba(bedroom), or albaricoque(apricot) are a legacy of the arab language, apart from the fact that….(and I quote):

"“9 de Noviembre. Virgen de la Almudena, Patrona Oficial de la ciudad. Su imagen fue encontrada en una torre de la muralla árabe de la puerta de la Vega, donde había sido ocultada por los cristianos.”'

Being a Madrilenian Patron Saint, she would hardly be of Basque origin . Of course girls named Arancha in "Castellano', or Arantxa in Basque, are named after the very 'vasca' Virgen de Arantzazu, (BTW, a quite a widespread name all over the country though ).

With San Isidro (one of Madrid's Patron Saints indeed) come the "fiestas municipales de la ciudad', I guess I kind of forgot him since the topic was common Spanish names, and the name Isidro, at least these days, is quite uncommon, personally, I've only known one guy, and he's from Sevilla….

I know a person named Soledad (solitude, loneliness) who doesn't particularly enjoy her name too, I guess it's understandable. Also, the full name of my 'patrona' is Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de la Paloma, although noone uses it like that, but it makes sense.

P.S.: BTW, Eddie, all this reminds me, a few months back, at the office, Verónica, the Argentinian receptionist (whom some of you know ) called a pen "lapicero' to everybody's surprise, of course that reminded me of you….