Hello everybody,
My name is Núria and my surnames are Vidal and Carbonell. I live in a town close to Barcelona called Sant Boi de Llobregat, which is known because is the birthplace of Pau and Marc Gasol, the famous basket players.
I teach catalan to adults (above eighteen) and because most of them are from English spoken countries, such as India or Pakistan, I’m very interested in making this course to refresh my knowledgements in this language.
My name, Núria, is a very common female name in Catalonia, where I and all my family come from. It’s the name of a virgin found in a Pyrinees valley called, of course, Núria’s Valley. If you like peace and nature I recommend you a visit there. You’ll like it very much!
Other traditional female common names in Catalonia are: Montserrat (another virgin found in a mountain), Carme, Mercè, Maria... and nowadays the most popular are: Júlia, Martina or Alba, which is my daughter’s name.
For males, some traditionals names are Joan, Josep or Pau, but in these times much more populars names are as Marc, Èric or Àlex.
My family names are very common in Catalonia although the second one isn’t as usual as the first (we have two surnames). They don’t tell anything about where my family come and they don’t refer to trades or professions either, instead of surnames as Ferrer or Sabater which mean blacksmith or shoemaker respectively.
Many Spanish names (Carmen, María, José, Juan, Miguel) and surnames such as López, Rodríguez, González, García are also very common where I live.
In my country, when we meet someone for the first time and It’s a formal situation or a not very young person we use Senyor or Senyora (Mr. And Mrs.) before the name or, even more formal, the surname. If the person allows us or when we know him or her better we only use his or her name.
If we use the surname without a title is because is a quite informal situation or if for exemple in a classroom there are two or more people with the same name.
Now as to the pet names question, I must say that we use words as carinyo, guapo or guapa and some others.