My first name is Alonso.
This is not very common in the place I live and it's not very easy to find a specific geographic origin to this word. In fact, Alonso comes from the name of the father. That's to say, in the same way that "Fernández" means the son of Fernandez, Alonso means the son of Alonso.
There are some different branches of Alonso in Spain. One of this branches has its origin in Asturias, another one in Galicia, and one of the most aristocratic branches come directly from an illegitimate son of the King Alfonso I.
In my country there are some common first names as Garcia or Fernandez. But in the last years, due to immigration, Mohamed is one of the cristian names and surnames most listened.
Nowadays, in my country we normally use surnames only as a way of stand out. At work, at school and in most of situations we call each other by the name, even by our nickname.
Here in Catalonia, we have many ways of calling us pet names... But one, that I can't stand is "cari" or "turronet". Both sound me oldfashioned and a little posh.