Hi everyone, my name is Ramses, a very strange name, it’s an Egyptian name but I’m from Barcelona. Here the typical names are the common Spanish names and Catalonian names, so now there are a lot of parents that name their children with Catalonian and euskera names.
My family name is very common, Herrero, it comes from Castilla and refers to a profession. In English is also very common because the translation is Smith. My father is from Salamanca, may be my family comes from ancient smiths in Castilla. There are another names that means professions as Ferrer, Fuster, Carnisser, etc.
In the other hand there are people that have names from other countries and they are popular, like Kevin, Jennifer, Jessica or Oliver.
At Spain when we meet someone for the first time, we use its name. We only use the surname when we speak about that person in third person and in a polite form. We usually call people with their surnames when there are two persons with the same name and is easiest to differentiate them. Otherwise we use the surnames when we use a title like Professor or Doctor.
Regarding the pet names, they are more different and there are a great variety of names. May be the people often name their pets with a word that speaks about the colour of their hair, like Blacky, Fosca, Copito.