So what's your name?
I was surprised when I moved to Spain to discover how many Spanish names there were. I expected to find a few, like Miguel and Pedro, Carmen and Isabel. What I wasn't ready for was that pretty much every child in my class would have a 'Spanish' name. I just didn't realise there were so many. I thought a lot of them would have names like us, that we'd share more names. Just shows how much I had to learn.
This week I'm going to look at Spanish boys' names. Next week, we'll look at the girls.
Here are the top-20 English boys' names for 2013 (the first half of the year) with their Spanish 'translation' if I can find one. If I can't, and you can, let me know and I'll add it to the list.
Note also that I've tried to give you a pronunciation guide. For example, Thomas and Tomás may look almost the same, but Spaniards stress the second syllable while we stress the first:
1. Oliver No translation found
2. Jack/John Juan (say H-won to rhyme with fun)
3. Charlie/Charles Carlos/Carlito(s)
4. Harry Enrique (say En-ree-kay)
5. Oscar Óscar
6. Ethan NTF
7. Jacob Jacobo (say Jack-o-boh)
8. Thomas Tomás (say Tom-as)
9. George Jorge (say Hor-hay)
10. James Jaime (say high-may)
11. Alfie Alfredo
12. Daniel Daniel (say Danielle)
13. William Guillermo (say Gee yer moh using the 'Gee' sound from 'Geek' (not 'Jeep').
14. Henry Enrique (again)
15. Joshua Josué (say Ho-soo-eh)
16. Max Maximiliano (stress 'an')
17. Noah Noé (say No-eh)
18. Alexander Alejandro (say Al eh han dro)
19. Benjamin Benjamín (say Ben yah meen)
20. Dylan NTF
Some of the other common Spanish name translations which you might need are:
Edward Eduardo
Michael Miguel (say Mee-gel with 'gel' to have a hard 'g' like in 'get' not hair 'gel')
Paul Pablo
Peter Pedro
Ralph Raúl (say Rah-ool)
Why don't you 'adopt' a Spanish name for your Spanish classes? Then you can get into the swing of pronouncing them, ready for your next visit to España where you'll no doubt need them!
Next week, las chicas!
Why don't you 'adopt' a Spanish name for your Spanish classes? Then you can get into the swing of pronouncing them, ready for your next visit to España where you'll no doubt need them!
Next week, las chicas!
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