Unit 1- Names in your country

[mourelo]

The common name in Spain is Maria for women and Jose for men.

My name is Maria Teresa, quite common. My surname is Mourelo which provides from the north of Spain, specifically from Galicia. And my second surname is tipical andalusi. So, my surnames aren´t common. In fact I 've only found 5 people in Barcelona with the same surname us me.

Because of I live in Barcelona, a city with a lot of immigration, you can find foreign names like Kevin, Brian, Josy, ...that are names for other countries.

In my country, when I meet someone I use to introduced myself by my name. I only give my surname in oficial situations.

[ÍNGRID CASAS]

My name is Íngrid Casas and I live in Valls, a little town near Tarragona.
In my country there are lots of common names, such as Maria, Jordi, Josep, Montserrat, Oriol, etc. As you can imagine, my name is not common, but names can change with the time.
In my opinion, Casas isn’t a common family name either. To be honest, I don’t know anything about my family name and I have never looked for information about it. Anyway, Casas means houses in English, so maybe one of my ancestors had more than one house or place to live. Why not?
Nevertheless, in Spain there are names that refer to some professions. For example, the family name of the Spain’s President, Zapatero, which means shoemaker.
There are some names from other countries that are also popular in Catalonia. Examples of that are Kevin, Jacob, Laura, Robert, David and Emma.
In Catalonia, when we meet someone for the first time we tend to use the family name and the title Mr. or Mrs. However, if the person asks us to use his/her first name or if we notice that he/she is a young person, we try to use his/her first name. Unfortunately, there are some rude people that always use the first name.
Referring to pet names, I suppose that they are similar in all countries. In Catalonia we use carinyu (darling), estimat/da (dear) and cuca.

[begona.valls]

Hi,

My name is Begoña Valls. My name is not a common one in Catalonia. It comes from Bilbao, but my family doesn't come from there. As far as my grandparents could remember, all my family is from Catalonia. The surname Valls is a common one here. I know a lot of people with this surname. There is a city called Valls. Maybe somebody of my family was from Valls, but I don't kow for sure. Of course there are some surnames that come from trades or professions like Sabater or Vaquer.

I can't think of any name from other country popular in Spain. All people I know with a foreign first name is because one or both of their parents comes from another country.

Nowadays, the common names in Catalonia are for instance: Julia, Andrea or Martina for girls, and Jan, Aleix or Hugo for boys. I think that Maria and Jose now are old fashioned. Although Maria is coming back again.

Here in Spain we don't use to call people by his surname. When we meet somebody we use the first name. We can use their surname if there's more than one person with the same first name or if it's a person that you owe respect like an old person o a very important one.

We use surnames without title for example with colleagues, in not a formal situation, just to get sure you are calling that person and not another.

Some of the common per names in my country are "my life", sweaty or tinny.

[Marcel Safont]

Hi,

My name is Marcel Safont. It's not a common name here, everyone says that it's common in France, but I had a French flatmate and she told me that it is not so common nowadays.I think in Catalonia Marçal is more common than Marcel.

However my surname is more catalan. My father did research to find out where it comes from and he found out that it comes from Organya, a little town in the north of Catalonia. In Organya were wroten the first files in catalan.

[diegovalls10]

My name is Diego - Didac in catalan -Valls. I live in La Garriga, 35 kilometres from Barcelona in the north direcction. I'm married and I have two girls. This is my first exercice for the noticebook.

What are common names where you come from?
Maria, Jose, Francisco, Antonio, Pedro, Rosa

Is your family name common?
No. My name is Diego. It's not an usual family name. The translation in catalan is Dídac

Does your family name tell you anything about your family (e.g., where you come from)?
Mi first surname is Valls in reference to the city of Valls in the south of Catalonia, and the second, Meca, is in reference to the sacred city of muslims in Saudi Arabia.

Some English names refer to trades or professions, such as Butcher or Baker. Does your name mean anything? Are there any names in your country that do?
No, my name does mean anything about professions, but there are a few names in spanish refer to professions: carpinterio, carnicero, panadero, labrador, tornero,

Are any names from other countries popular in your country? Which ones?
This is a funny history. The origin of lots of this names is the TV serials from UK or Southamerica: Jhonatan, Jeniifer, Angeline, Michael...

In your country when you meet someone for the first time what name do you use? How do you know when you can use their first name?
The first name and the surname. We use the first name only if we have some confidence with the other person-

In your country do you ever use surnames without a title (e.g., Mrs or Mr)? When could you do this? Why would you do it?
We use Sr. Sra or Srta. Ww use this when we don't have confidence with this person. It's a polite way to speak.

There are common pet names in English that show affection, such as honey, darling or pet. What words are used in your language
For example, cariño, cari, churri, niña, etc.