History UsefulNotes / SpanishNamingConventions

** Jose Yglesias, Cuban American novelist and journalist, his son Rafael Yglesias, screenwriter and novelist,[[note]]He wrote the screenplays for ''Film/DeathAndTheMaiden'', ''Film/FromHell'', and [[FilmLesMiserables1998 the 1998 version]] of ''Literature/LesMiserables'', as well as the adaptation of his own novel ''[[Film/Fearless1993 Fearless]]''[[/note]] and ''his'' son Matthew Yglesias, journalist/pundit/Twitter troll. To confuse matters, both Jose and Rafael married Ashkenazi Jews, so Matthew is basically a New York Jew with a last name meaning "Church".

** Jose Yglesias, Cuban American novelist and journalist, his son Rafael Yglesias, screenwriter and novelist, and ''his'' son Matthew Yglesias, journalist/pundit/Twitter troll. To confuse matters, both Jose and Rafael married Ashkenazi Jews, so Matthew is basically a New York Jew with a last name meaning "Church".

* Francisco -- Not so common in Spain these days because of ''[[UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco that]]'' Francisco, historically rather common and still common in Latin America. The name ultimately means "Freeman", but has a convoluted history: it arrived in Spanish to honor the 13th-century Italian Saint Francis of Assisi (in Spanish ''San Francisco de Asís'', and yes UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco got its name from him); the saint's original Italian name ("Francesco") meant "French", because his father was a merchant who had great success in France; and France derives its name from an old Germanic word meaning "free".

* Julio -- meaning 'July', as a name is typically derived from the deitic form of being a worshiper of Jove rather than the month

* '''Pancho''' -- the Mexican nickname for boys called Francisco. Mexico doesn't have quite as much concern about the name, though.

* Iglesias -- 'churches', often given to orphans and those of low birth who were left to the care of the Church

** Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba until his death in 2016, and his brother Raúl Castro, the current leader

* '''José''' -- referring to Joseph of Nazareth, father of Christ. Similarly to María it does get used a lot in compound given names, but will not have the long form version because Joseph is not as revered in Christianity as the Virgin Mary. Boys with this as their first given name usually go by "Pepe", unless they are called José María, see below.

** Alejandro Villanueva, Spanish–American offensive tackle for the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Pittsburgh Steelers]] and former [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks US Army Ranger]][[note]]An international MilitaryBrat; his father was a Spanish Navy officer attached to NATO, with Alejandro being born in Mississippi[[/note]]

** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Llorente footballer]] known as "El Rey León" (''Disney/TheLionKing'')

** Iago from ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}''

Spanish is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world, and Latin/Hispanic cultures are among the most common non-Anglo cultures represented in media. For these reasons, many may falsely assume that various Spanish cultures and traditions are similar or identical to Anglo-American ones, with only more [[TheCartel drugs]], [[{{Bandito}} crime]], and [[DashingHispanic really]] [[SpicyLatina attractive]] [[LatinLover people]]. However, this is not the case. One of the most obvious things to get wrong is the names you give to people being inappropriate for the time/location, misgendered, or just plain incorrect. The one thing many {{comed|y}}ies, especially, often do get right is [[OverlyLongSpanishName the length many names can be]], typically for laughs. Unfortunately, a lot of media relies on reusing {{Stock Foreign Name}}s without checking if they're appropriate. Hopefully, this page will help you out more than that.

** Many more Spanish kings, coincidentally how they named UsefulNotes/ThePhillippines, including the current one, King Felipe VI

* '''Paco''' -- if you are called Francisco and it's after [[UsefulNotes/TheFrancoRegime the Regime]], you will be called Paco, unless you're in Andalusia where you'll be a Curro. Paco started out as a nickname like the others above, but now has guaranteed usage (in Spain, less in other countries) because of Franco ruining a perfectly good name for people. The Mexican equivalent is "Pancho".

** Stan Moreno in ''Series/{{Frequency}}''

* '''Lupe''' -- a nickname for Guadalupe, it may get given to many young girls regardless of their actual name, because of Saint Guadalupe who is very important in Mexico.

In general, there are two factors that majorly affect Nicaraguan naming schemes: the ethnic diversity of the country, and politics. While the political elite is largely mestizo, there are to this day notable indigenous and Afro-descended groups that speak indigenous languages and creole English, mostly in the Eastern half of the country. While many families gave their kids conservative, biblical names akin to franquist Spain until the Sandinista Revolution of 1979, since then Russian derived "communist" names -- and in more recent times, "American" names -- have become popular. However, it is often that not all Nicaraguans fully understand the cultural origin of the name and as such last names may be used as first names, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS uncommon spellings]] and [[ItIsPronouncedTropay mispronunciations]] abound.

!Caribbean

!!UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}}

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/apellidos_cuba.png]]
Cuba is one of the countries that more commonly includes longer surnames in two ways: it retains a lot of the long singular names from colonial periods when many other Latin American countries have not, and it is one of the countries (along with much of Central America) that commonly includes grandparent/ancestral/lineage surnames in addition to father's and mother's.

Honestly, who let Cuba come up with their own rules? This gets messy. The short version is that the nation's tradition seems to be rooted in misogyny, as in practical usage most men go by an inherited family name and women go by either their father's name, their husband's name, or both. Ironically, actual full surnames are very hefty and can be strangely ordered. The base of taking surnames is the typical Latin American pattern of your father's, your mother's, your paternal grandmother's, your maternal grandmother's (which can be rephrased many ways because lots of your relatives will have all these names in various different orders), but something funny happens when it comes to marriage, at least traditionally and commonly persisting in several (even modern American) communities. The woman's first surname -- the one from her father and his father, etc. -- gets bumped to the end of her inherited names. This actually makes quite a lot of sense, at least in terms of women being viewed as property. The last 'name' to be seen, typically the easiest part to remember, will be [father's name] de [husband's name], which is in short saying that she belongs to these two men. At this point, the rest of the surname may be discounted or just fairly simple to use with the woman's given names, the ending now most important.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/apellidos_odaat3.png]]
Take the example of the remake of ''Series/{{One Day at a Time|2017}}'', about a Cuban-American family, and [[ShownTheirWork with a Cuban-American showrunner]]. Lydia is the mother of Penelope, who is the mother of Elena. We have Lydia's full name, Lydia Margarita Del Carmen Inclan Maribona Leytevidal de Riera, and Elena's full name, Elena Maria Alvarez Riera Calderón Leytevidal Inclan. In parts: [Inclan] [Maribona] [Leytevidal] de [Riera] and [Alvarez] [Riera] [Calderón] [Leytevidal] [Inclan]. Because Lydia has been married, her father's name is Leytevidal, which makes it Penelope's mother's (i.e. Lydia) name, so Penelope's name (since she has also been married) will start [Leytevidal]. From Elena's name, Alvarez is her father, Penelope's husband, so Penelope's name will end with de [Alvarez]; Lydia's husband's name is Riera, and this is also Elena's mother's name, so it is Penelope's father's name and will come before as [Riera] de [Alvarez]. From Elena's name, Calderón comes from her paternal grandmother, her father's side, and so won't appear in Penelope's name. Similarly, in Lydia's name, Maribona is her grandmother's surname and theoretically too far removed for Penelope to inherit it, though this isn't unheard of (and it is evident that Elena was given such a name, likely connecting with the matriarchy displayed in the show). Inclan is Penelope's grandmother's name, so it will appear 'last' in her name, as [Inclan] [Riera] de [Alvarez]. Unfortunately, we don't know Penelope's father's full name to work out what would come before Inclan, leaving her unmarried name as [Riera] [Leytevidal] [?] [Inclan], and her married name as [Leytevidal] [?] [Inclan] [Riera] de [Alvarez]. A fun (actually, difficult and taxing) exercise is to apply this to work out other peoples' names from their relatives; it also helps prove the point that 1. it works, 2. it's hard, 3. why, Cuba, why?!

!Central America

!!UsefulNotes/{{Nicaragua}}
In general, there are two factors that majorly affect Nicaraguan naming schemes: the ethnic diversity of the country, and politics. While the political elite is largely mestizo, there are to this day notable indigenous and Afro-descended groups that speak indigenous languages and creole English, mostly in the Eastern half of the country. While many families gave their kids conservative, biblical names akin to franquist Spain until the Sandinista Revolution of 1979, since then Russian derived "communist" names -- and in more recent times, "American" names -- have become popular. However, it is often that not all Nicaraguans fully understand the cultural origin of the name and as such last names may be used as first names, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS uncommon spellings]] and [[ItIsPronouncedTropay mispronunciations]] abound.

!!!Nombres
It is often easy to at least somewhat pinpoint when somebody was born and which political leanings their parents had at the time. If they have a "pedestrian" Spanish name like José, Juan, Luis or the likes, they were likely born before the 1979 revolution. If they have a name like "Lenin", "Mijail" (varying spelllings, sometimes also "Mikhail") or the likes, they were likely born in the 1980s. If they have a name one cannot really place, they might've been born in the 1990s or later. These days it is not uncommon to give a "weird" first name and a "normal" middle name, such as "Beyton Francisco" or "Mayela Luisa". Younger couples also take to PortmanteauCoupleName for their kid, creating a new name by smoshing together the name of the parents. American names, or in some cases [[EaglelandOsmosis what Nicaraguans think are American names]] have also become popular since the end of the Contra War, giving rise to such bizarre concoctions as "Ruswel" (a phonetic spelling of a mispronunciation of [[UsefulNotes/ThePresidents Teddy or FDR]]). "Bismarck" is another not unheard of first name, as is Daisy.

!!!Apellidos
Nicaragua has for a long time been some form of HereditaryRepublic and as such "last names" carried a lot of weight. The unquestionably most important family on the national level were, for most of the 19th century and the early 20th century, the Chamorros, who had several of their number rise to the presidency or take high positions in business or journalism. The Somozas were initially the equivalent of minor nobility, but managed to eke out a family dictatorship from the 1930s to the aforementioned 1979 revolution. However, their family name is -- for understandable reasons -- mud. Nicaragua also had a small but significant German descendant minority, who primarily settled in the North of the country and got active in the coffee business. If somebody has a German sounding last name, they may be connected to that heritage. Somoza "fought" in World War 2 by expropriating many German-Nicaraguans for alleged or real Nazi sympathies.

!!!Nicknames
Nicaraguans love getting nicknames, but due to the rather uncommon first names (and hence difficulty to use "standard" nicknames) and the often sprawling and tightly knit families making last name-based nicknames impractical, nicknames are often based on outwards appearance. They may be rather direct (ex-president Arnoldo Aleman is known as "El Gordo" due to his rotundness) and sometimes {{ironic|Nickname}}, calling somebody exactly the thing they ''aren't''. A common word that even casual white skinned visitors to Nicaragua are bound to hear is "chele", apparently derived from "leche" (milk) with the syllables turned around, which is used for light skinned people, particularly light skinned foreigners or, in some cases, dark skinned people in irony.
%%
%%!!Central America

* '''María''' -- referring to the Virgin Mary, often used in double names and very common. Girls with a double name where María is the first will often omit it, in the way Muslim boys called Mohammad do, and go by whatever succeeds it. Sometimes this comes in the form "María del Carmen", for example, but can also be the long form "María de ... [something religious]" and the classic "María José" or "María Josefa". María José is rarely shortened, but the long form version has many ways of being shortened; if the name is María de la Soledad ("Our Lady of Solitude"), the girl will be called Marisol. The same portmanteau/apocopation process is available as with any other double name; also, the girl may use only the nickname of the second name, for example if the name is María de los Dolores ("Our Lady of Sorrows"), she may go by Lola, the nickname of Dolores.

Regarding marriage, a woman does not take her husband's surname or any other configuration. Instead, she may not take the name. Decades ago, a woman would append her surname with it, for example if we have Joe and Jane above, she would become Sra. de Lopez Rodriguez. This form is not used anymore.

* '''Paco''' -- if you are called Francisco and it's after [[UsefulNotes/TheFrancoRegime the Regime]], you will be called Paco. It started out as a nickname like the others above, but now has guaranteed usage (in Spain, less in other countries) because of Franco ruining a perfectly good name for people. The Mexican equivalent is "Pancho".

* '''María Josefa''' and '''José María''' -- the first is a girls' name, as described above , and the latter is a boys' name. Many boys have María in a given name despite it being female, because they're that religious. These people will, with luck, have another name to use, or use an unrelated nickname in the style of most Spanish footballers. Also note that these names will be written as "M.ª Josefa" and "José M.ª". If a girl is called María José, she will likely use the nickname "Pepa" like in ''Film/MujeresAlBordeDeUnAtaqueDeNervios'' (see Pepe, above, and because she has the name José).

* '''Pilar''' -- a female name that was originally short for "Maria del Pilar" (Our Lady of the Pillar) that, yes, literally means 'pillar' but also has seen peculiar waves in popularity, though it is safe to say that it hasn't been particularly high on the list since the early '90s; perhaps it's time for another revival. It can be seen as quite a common name for women in their 30s and 40s.

There are some names that will not be used very often, however. Francisco is one of these, thanks to the dictator UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco who, for the unaware, ''scared Hitler'' and was basically running Spain like North Korea. Blanca is not very common in Spain, though it is in the Americas, and is a sure sign that a writer is American if it crops up. Similarly, Sofía is not particularly uncommon in Spain, but nowhere near as popular as it is in the Americas (where it's been solid at number one since about 2010). The girl's name Macarena fell out of favor after [[Music/LosDelRio the song]] (it's not exactly complimentary), but was on the way out, anyway.

!The Caribbean

* '''María''' -- referring to the Virgin Mary, often used in double names and very common. Girls with a double name where María is the first will often omit it, in the way Muslim boys called Mohammad do, and go by whatever succeeds it. Sometimes this comes in the form "María del Carmen", for example, but can also be the long form "María de ... [something religious]" and the classic "María Jos&ecute" or "María Josefa". María José is rarely shortened, but the long form version has many ways of being shortened; if the name is María de la Soledad ("Our Lady of Solitude"), the girl will be called Marisol. The same portmanteau/apocopation process is available as with any other double name; also, the girl may use only the nickname of the second name, for example if the name is María de los Dolores ("Our Lady of Sorrows"), she may go by Lola, the nickname of Dolores.

* '''María Josefa''' and '''José María''' -- the first is a girls' name, as described above , and the latter is a boys' name. Many boys have María in a given name despite it being female, because they're that religious. These people will, with luck, have another name to use, or use an unrelated nickname in the style of most Spanish footballers. Also note that these names will be written as "M.&ordf Josefa" and "José M.ª". If a girl is called María José, she will likely use the nickname "Pepa" like in ''Film/MujeresAlBordeDeUnAtaqueDeNervios'' (see Pepe, above, and because she has the name José).

Regarding marriage, a woman does not take her husband's surname or any other configuration. Instead, she may not take the name or will commonly append her surname with it, for example if we have Joe and Jane above, she would become Rodriguez Garcia de Lopez. Again, in more recent years even this has been becoming less common.

Many surnames were originally, like in many languages, {{patronymic}}s: Ramírez would be son of Ramiro, López would be son of Lope, etc. Yes, this is for the surnames ending with a 'z'. They're not usually handed out like this anymore, but on occasion are.

* '''Jesús''' -- boys called Jesús have several default nicknames. The logical one is "Zeus" (as the name is pronounced 'hey-zooz' in Spanish), but the one that has a similar role to Pepe for José is "Chus".

* '''Toño''' -- if you're called Antonio... it also has its own other forms, "Toníno" and "Nono".

* '''-ito''' and '''-ita''' -- literally this means that whatever it's been added to is smaller than usual (un poco -> un poquito = little -> tiny[[labelnote:*]]or burro -> burrito[[/labelnote]]), however is more common to indicate affection. It also works for verbs and adverbs (e.g. despacio -> despacito), but for names there are some common formations that are an almost guaranteed usage. These include Juanita but not Juanito. It doesn't work for some names, like the male Juan in that example, and the rule of thumb is that if it sounds wrong, it probably is. Also remember to cut down on your vowels: it's not Juan that becomes Juanita, it's Juana, but Miguel becomes Miguelito because it ends on a consonant.

* '''María''' -- referring to the Virgin Mary, often used in double names and very common. Girls with a double name where María is the first will often omit it, in the way Muslim boys called Mohammad do, and go by whatever succeeds it. Sometimes this comes in the form "María Carmen", for example, but can also be the long form "María de ... [something religious]" and the classic "María Josefa". María Josefa is rarely shortened, but the long form version has many ways of being shortened; if the name is María de la Soledad ("Our Lady of Solitude"), the girl will be called Marisol. The same portmanteau/apocopation process is available as with any other double name; also, the girl may use only the nickname of the second name, for example if the name is María de los Dolores ("Our Lady of Sorrows"), she may go by Lola, the nickname of Dolores.

* '''María Josefa''' and '''José María''' -- the first is a girls' name, as described above , and the latter is a boys' name. Many boys have María in a given name despite it being female, because they're that religious. It's also very cute to put both Mary and Joseph into your name, though a lot of people will do, too. These people will, with luck, have another name to use, or use an unrelated nickname in the style of most Spanish footballers. Also note that these names will be written as "María J.ª" and "José M.ª". If a girl is called María José, she will likely use the nickname "Pepa" like in ''Film/MujeresAlBordeDeUnAtaqueDeNervios'' (see Pepe, above, and because she has the name José). Sometimes, instead of José, Jesús is used.

** Pau Gasol, Barcelona-born basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs

** The footballer Itziar Gurrutxaga Bengoetxea, another contestant for [[TheUnpronouncable seriously, are you sure that's a Latin name]]