UNIT 1 - ABOUT NAMES
Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 10:07 amUNIT 1 - ABOUT NAMES
My name is Sílvia and I’m from Barcelona, a big city in Catalonia. There are a lot of common names here but they have been changed with the time. Years ago, we could find, as a common names, Montserrat, Núria, Maria, Anna, Josep, Joan, Jordi , Jaume....Now, the most common names are Laia, Paula, Julia, Alba, Marc, Oriol, Roger.... My name is not a common one now but it was popular when I was born.
My family name is Tost and it is very catalan but not common. It doesn’t tell anything about my family and it doesn’t refer to a trade or profession.
We can find some catalan family names which are also popular brand names as Pujol (famous cookies), Carbonell (oil), Tarradelles (pizzas, salami).
There are some common first names from other countries in Catalonia, as Christian, Aaron, Ivan, Kevin.
The name we use when we meet someone for the first time will depend on many things as age, professional position ... I use the family name and the title Mr. or Mrs. if the person is older than me and I’ll use the first name if this person asks me to do it. Nevertheless, we have to accept that young people, I mean children or teenagers, use the first name for everybody, it doesn’t mater if the person is 20 or 80.
People always use the surname with the title Mr. or Mrs. in business when they have the first appointment.
Talking about pet names I think they are, more or less the same, in all the countries. In catalan we say: “guapa” (beautiful), “cuca”, “nina” (doll).
My name is Sílvia and I’m from Barcelona, a big city in Catalonia. There are a lot of common names here but they have been changed with the time. Years ago, we could find, as a common names, Montserrat, Núria, Maria, Anna, Josep, Joan, Jordi , Jaume....Now, the most common names are Laia, Paula, Julia, Alba, Marc, Oriol, Roger.... My name is not a common one now but it was popular when I was born.
My family name is Tost and it is very catalan but not common. It doesn’t tell anything about my family and it doesn’t refer to a trade or profession.
We can find some catalan family names which are also popular brand names as Pujol (famous cookies), Carbonell (oil), Tarradelles (pizzas, salami).
There are some common first names from other countries in Catalonia, as Christian, Aaron, Ivan, Kevin.
The name we use when we meet someone for the first time will depend on many things as age, professional position ... I use the family name and the title Mr. or Mrs. if the person is older than me and I’ll use the first name if this person asks me to do it. Nevertheless, we have to accept that young people, I mean children or teenagers, use the first name for everybody, it doesn’t mater if the person is 20 or 80.
People always use the surname with the title Mr. or Mrs. in business when they have the first appointment.
Talking about pet names I think they are, more or less the same, in all the countries. In catalan we say: “guapa” (beautiful), “cuca”, “nina” (doll).