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….