# most common names and last names in your country



## Miguelillo 87

I was wondering What is the most common name and last name on your country (for women and men)? and WHY (just in the names)?
On México the most common name for women is María y Guadalupe
María because it's the name of the Virgen María and here on México we are really catholic
Also Guadalupe it's because the Virgen of Guadalupe, Which it's the mother of all mexicans and americans.
Even some parents name their sons Guadalupe doesn't amtter tht the name it's a girl name. Ex José Guadalupe.- José it's male; Guadalupe Fem.
And the most common name for men are.- Juan and Pedro I supposed it's because the apostols .
About the surnames the most commons are, López, Pérez, Hernández, Sánchez. Even some persons last names are,. Pérez Pérez or Hernández Hernández!!!!!
(on méxico people should has 2 last names not one as in US or UK)


----------



## Etcetera

What an interesting question you ask, Miguelillo.
I went to primary school in St. Petersburg, and to secondary school in Moscow region, and I noticed a very interesting thing about girl's names. In my class in St. Petersburg, there were three girls who shared their name with me - Anna. But in my class in the Moscow region, I was the only Anna, and there were (if I remember correctly) three Olgas and four Irinas. It seems that the popularity of one and the same name can vary between different regions of a country.

In general, the most popular male names in Russia are Ivan, Alexandr, Alexej, Andrej, Mikhail, Petr, Pavel (the last two names are forms of the Apostles' names); many women are called Anna, Maria, Olga, Irina, Anastasiya, Natalia, Lyudmila, Tatiana. 
As for surnames - the most popular are Ivanov, Fyodorov, Egorov, Kuznetsov, Smirnov.


----------



## CatStar

Cool question!

I would have thought Patrick (or any of its variations e.g. Pat, Paddy, Pa)was the most popular name in Ireland because I know so many of them and because our patron saint is called Patrick, but according to this link it's Jack. 

For girls I would have thought Sarah or Aoife but from the above link I see there's a move away from that, Emmas are taking over!

As regards surnames, it depends on what area of the country you live in:
irish surnames link. 

Cat


----------



## übermönch

Here in southern Hessen the most popular surnames are Bauer, "peasant", Müller, "Miller", Schmied, "Smith" and Meyer, "Major". There are also Hesse, Hess and Hees, and town/villager names +er like Darmstädter. In the 70s almost _every_ girl was called eva; now there's some diversity, Anna propably being the most common name, but usually with a second one like Anna-Lisa or Anna-Lena. There are many Daniel's, one being myself and Christian's amongst boys. The minorities use other names, local German Turks mainly Ahmed and Mehmet for males and Selima for girls; Volga Germans use to call their boys mostly Eugen and Waldemar and girls Katharina, Kathrina and Katia. Yeah, another interessting thing is that males born in 30s
 and early 40s often bear names like Siegfried and Adolf which makes them somewhat white crows


----------



## Krümelmonster

I have the impression that in Germany this changes from year to year... in my brother's year there were hundreds of Manuels, another year I know about 10 Katharinas...In 2005 the most famous names for boys were Alexander, Maximilian and Leon; for girls it was Marie, Sofie and Maria. 
I can't make up any typical German names, in my grandfather's generation there were many men called Otto, Hans, Paul... and many women Hilde, Anneliese, Erna... but these have become out of fashion (but maybe have a comeback, "Paul" has one at the moment).

Most common last names are Schmidt (or Schmitt, Schmied, ...), Meier (or Mayer, Maier, Meyer...), and Müller.

Edit: Oops, Übermönch was faster...


----------



## Etcetera

Krümelmonster said:
			
		

> Most common last names are Schmidt (or Schmitt, Schmied, ...), Meier (or Mayer, Maier, Meyer...), and Müller.


You know, the Russian surnames Kuznecov and Melnikov are derived from the words 'kuznec' and 'melnik', which mean exactly the same as the German Schmidt and Müller. A nice and significant fact, isn't it?


----------



## maxiogee

If you listen to men of a certain age and lifestyle in Dublin, it would appear that every Irishman is called "Bud"!


----------



## Miguelillo 87

maxiogee said:
			
		

> If you listen to men of a certain age and lifestyle in Dublin, it would appear that every Irishman is called "Bud"!


I have a question why almost all the irish has an O before its lastname like 
O'connel, O'Bryan etc etc


----------



## Etcetera

Cereth said:
			
		

> mm i Can see Ana is a very popular name.. in my family there are at least 5 members with that name...


Anna is a very popular name, indeed. 



> Hey etcetera! there are also a lot of names popular in Russia that are also popular here like Natalia and Ivan
> Natalia Hernández and Ivan Gómez ( do they sound exotic to you??)
> 
> Maria Müller for example sounds pretty exotic to me


Oh yes, it does sound exotic! But what about Patricia Ivanova, for example? Or Alundra Kuznecova? And only a few years ago Latin American names were rather popular here - when there were all those 'soap operas' made in Argentina and Brasilia.


----------



## JamesM

Miguelillo, 

You might find the wikipedia article entitled "Most Popular Given Names" interesting.  It lists the most popular given names from a variety of countries as of 2005. 

I'd post the link to the article, but I'm too new to this site to have gained that privilege yet.


- James


----------



## maxiogee

Miguelillo 87 said:
			
		

> I have a question why almost all the irish has an O before its lastname like
> O'connel, O'Bryan etc etc



Mac in front of an Irish surname is a designation of "son of".
A leading O (with or without an apostrophe, but usually with) is an anglicisation of an old Irish word which means grandson, and was originally used in front of an ancestor's first name
For someone called "O'Bryan" — that would indicate that at some time in the past there was someone who was the grandson of a man whose first name was Brían.
For a woman, the surname would be spelt slightly differently and prefixed with Ní - Ní Bhríain would be the female equivalent of a man named O'Briain.

These surnames are now fixed and passed on to children with no connection to the original meanings of the prefixes. My surname at birth was O'Grady - it was my fathers, and his fathers, and his, and so on back for several generations. At some point the O was added to the original name Grady.
My wife's surname at birth was McCoy - this came through her father and his etc. Some people use the Irish version of their names and they may, but don't always, use the correct formulation of their names.


----------



## Miguelillo 87

So this O' its original form ireland or an american or english person can has this O' on her last name, (Note: I know if an american girl married toa n irish called O'Brian her last name it's going to be that, but I mean if an american or english can have this name since his roots as an originl or it's merely irish)


----------



## CatStar

Miguelillo 87 said:
			
		

> I have a question why almost all the irish has an O before its lastname like
> O'connel, O'Bryan etc etc


 
Ok maxiogee has got there before me. I´ll just give you another example then...

My name in English is Caitríona O´Connell but the Irish version is Caitríona *Ní Chonaill*. In this instance the Ní is short for iníon which means daughter.

Cat


----------



## maxiogee

Miguelillo 87 said:
			
		

> So this O' it is originally from Ireland or an American or English person can has this O' on her last name, (Note: I know if an American girl married to an Irish man called O'Brian her last name it's going to be that, but I mean if an American or English man can have this name since his roots as an original or it's merely irish)?



It originated in Ireland.
As Irish people emigrated in huge numbers in the years since the 1840s, there are now people with O' and Mac all over the word. Those with an O' have definite Irish roots. Those with Mac (or Mc) could have either Irish or Scottish roots — as the Scots use the Mac formula also.


----------



## french4beth

JamesM said:
			
		

> Miguelillo,
> 
> You might find the wikipedia article entitled "Most Popular Given Names" interesting. It lists the most popular given names from a variety of countries as of 2005.
> 
> I'd post the link to the article, but I'm too new to this site to have gained that privilege yet.
> 
> - James


Here's the wikipedia link to given names, and this is the list of surnames (from wikipedia). According to this source, Smith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown are the most common last names in the US; most common first names are MARY, PATRICIA, LINDA, BARBARA, and ELIZABETH according to the US Census Bureau; for men, it's: JAMES, JOHN, ROBERT, MICHAEL, and WILLIAM.


----------



## K.os

I am a Tremblay. Here in Québec that is the most common name.

The Tremblay familly is so large that it has become the largest familly that can be traced back to a single ancestor.

There is an association for Tremblays in America, on the homepage you can find a lot of information about my familly:

The first Tremblay ancestor
Same thing, but in french

Homepage in English and in French


----------



## Lore bat

In general, the most popular male names in Basque Country are Xabier, Jon, Mikel, Asier, Unai, Gorka...

The most popular female names are Miren, Jone, Ane, Eider...

Most of the are "classics" and they aren't out of fashion.  That's why there are so many people with the same name.


----------



## ireney

Most popular male names are the Greek forms of John, George, Nickolas and Basil (Yannis, Yorgos, Nickos, Vasilis in their sort form)

Female ones Mary, Catherine, Helen (Maria, Katerina, Eleni)

In surnames the winner is by far  Papadopoulos which actually means son of the priest. It seems that Greek priests in Greece were always numerous and quite active because after Papadopoulos come other surnames with the Papa- prefix and then a name (e.g. Papageorgiou = (son) of Priest George).

Edit: I have no idea why these names are the most popular ones amongst the many Christian names (98% of the population -or somewhere around there is Christian although this might be the number of Orthodox Christians only, I can't remember right now-  (bar Maria of course; we really love the Mother of Jesus so that is easy to explain)


----------



## Dr. Quizá

According to the national institute of stadistics:

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cach...42/mnp/nomnac05.xls+&hl=es&gl=es&ct=clnk&cd=1

Most common names in boys born in 2005:

ALEJANDRO
DANIEL
PABLO
DAVID
ADRIÁN
JAVIER
ÁLVARO
SERGIO
CARLOS
MARCOS

Most common names in girls born in 2005:

LUCÍA
MARÍA
PAULA
LAURA
MARTA
ALBA
CLAUDIA
CARLA
ANDREA
SARA

Actually a big part of Spaniards have compund names, which are not reflected in these list. Current most popular names (José, Carmen, Ana, Dolores, Francisco, Juan, Juana...) have dissapeared from the top 10. You can also see the most popular names by region following the link and see the predominance of Catalonian names in Catalonia, the Basque names in the Basque Country and the Arabic names in Ceuta and Melilla.


----------



## Arenita

Surnames are common according to the region or provinces, for example in Trujillo (northern of Peru) Ganoza or Manucci are very common.  And it is very funny when we listened to old people talking, when they recognize a surname they usually know the region it comes from.  Generally in Peru, Quispe, Mamani or Quispe are also very common.

Regarding first names, they depend on the generation.  For example you can see a lot of 6-year old girls named Maria ... (with another name) or now 3-year old boys named Mateo or Sebastian.  In this case first names depend on how fashion they are (Believe or not!) plop!


----------



## Dr. Quizá

I thought _Mac_ was Scottish and that _O'_ was the Irish equivalent!


----------



## Etcetera

Miguelillo 87 said:
			
		

> You know there is alos another russian name very famous here Tatiana, uy there is a lot of Tatianas,
> By the way Petra it's a popular name in Russia?


Petra? No. Pyotr (it's a male name, and it's the Russian form of Peter/Pedro) is rather common, but I wouln't say it's popular nowadays.



> And Do you have spnish names on Russia?


There are names which exist both in Russian and Spanias. My own name, Anna, for example. Spanish names used to be rather popular among young women who liked 'soap operas'. They liked give their kids Spanish names after their favourite heroes. I don't know if it is still so, as the Russian TV no longer pay so much attention to 'soap operas' made in Argentina and Mexico, as it used to fifteen years ago...


----------



## Aldin

In Bosnia among Muslim population:

Male names:

Ismet
Kemal
Dino
Adin
Edin
Aldin
Muhamed
Ahmed
Mustafa
Adnan
Anes
Enes
Admir
Ademir
Mirnes
Alija
Adis
Female names:

Selma
Belma
Aida
Ajla
Lejla
Alma
Minela
Melisa
Azra
Edina
Amela
Anela
Alena
Alija
Fatima
Common surnames:


Hodžić
Hadžić
Arnautović
Mehić
Hadžiabdić
Delić
Terzić
Kovačević
Šuškić
Džaferagić
Adilović
Abazović
Ferhatović
Hrustanović


----------



## cuchuflete

This was and is the thread topic:



> I was wondering What is the most common name and last name on your country (for women and men)? *and WHY *(just in the names)?



This forum does not invite or tolerate lists!  It's a place for discussions.  Please offer names *and reasons*.  Lists alone will be removed.


----------



## .   1

Dr. Quizá said:
			
		

> I thought _Mac_ was Scottish and that _O'_ was the Irish equivalent!


Mac and Mc came to Scotland along with the pipes and kilts of the earlier inhabitants of Ireland.

.,,


----------



## Brioche

Dr. Quizá said:
			
		

> I thought _Mac_ was Scottish and that _O'_ was the Irish equivalent!


 
The Scotti, who came from the north of Ireland, invaded the Highlands and Islands of the north of Britain around about the same time as the Angles [&c] invaded the east of Britain.

Just as the Angles gave their name to Angle-land = England, the Scotti gave their name to Scotland.

The Scotti brought Gaelic with them. 

The Isle of Man had/has its own dialect of Gaelic, Manx. Names there also used the _Mac _prefix, but over time the Ma- bit disappeared, and only the /k/ sound remained. This gave rise to lots of name beginning with C, K or Q.
So modern Corteen was once Mac Mhairtin [son of Martin]; Kermode was once Mac Diarmaid [son of a freeman]; Quayle was once Mac Phail [son of Paul]


----------



## unefemme1

Miguelillo 87 said:
			
		

> I have a question why almost all the irish has an O before its lastname like
> O'connel, O'Bryan etc etc


 
I heard that the "_O'_" part means "of" something, and the surname that follows the O refers to the occupation. Like, the name O' Connel could mean "of" Connel family, or if the surname meant an occupation that was around during medieval times, then the whole surname could mean _of (whatever occupation that name referred to)_ . Hope you can all understand.


----------



## unefemme1

Looks like no one has mentioned popular names in New Zealand yet. Well I'll be the first to tell you all then.

For surnames, since New Zealand is really a multicultural nation, the most common ones seem to begin with _Mac _or _Mc_, in particular _Mc/Mac Donald_, from the English colonials perhaps. I also must say that many white NZers have their roots from England or other European countries. Nevertheless, other common surnames include _Williams, Smith_ and _Parker_. (Obviously derived from the English)

As for first names, Allen/Alan, Aaron, Mark and Michael seems to be common here. Rebecca, Jane, Anna/Anne, Jessica and  Emma are common girls' names. It seems my name (Jenny) isn't popular enough. 

However, regarding names from other countries, I find that Ali and Mohammed (excuse the spelling) are common Arabic names here. I don't know many people with Maori names though, sorry.


----------



## maxiogee

unefemme1 said:
			
		

> I heard that the "_O'_" part means "of" something, and the surname that follows the O refers to the occupation. Like, the name O' Connel could mean "of" Connel family, or if the surname meant an occupation that was around during medieval times, then the whole surname could mean _of (whatever occupation that name referred to)_ . Hope you can all understand.



The occupation can also produce "Mac" words - McEntaggert and McAnaspie, for instance, to take two alarming ones. The first comes from "mac an sagart" meaning son of the priest, the second comes from "mac an easpaig" meaning son of the bishop!
There is no "son of the celibate"!


----------



## mensaia

Hello,
In the Basque Country the most common names are:
- For girls: Amaia, Maite, Leire, Ane, Saioa, Ione, Maitane, Izaskun...
- For boys: Ion, Gorka, Xabier, Iban, Koldo, Arkaitz, Aitor, Iker, Antxon...
And the typical surnames are very long and have meanings about the place where the family used to live or things like that. These can be: Goikoetxea, Ajuriagoseaskoa, Illarramendi, Mendinueta...
There is a wide variety of names in the Basque country.


----------



## dahut

Arenita said:
			
		

> Surnames are common according to the region or provinces, for example in Trujillo (northern of Peru) Ganoza or Manucci are very common.  And it is very funny when we listened to old people talking, when they recognize a surname they usually know the region it comes from.  Generally in Peru, Quispe, Mamani or Quispe are also very common.
> 
> Regarding first names, they depend on the generation.  For example you can see a lot of 6-year old girls named Maria ... (with another name) or now 3-year old boys named Mateo or Sebastian.  In this case first names depend on how fashion they are (Believe or not!) plop!



In Spain, it happens something similar. You can point out from where a person comes or their ancestor did by his/her first name or family name. Of course, you don't need to come from that place in order to use the first name.
E.g.
Place/1st name (female-male)/family name
Catalonia/Núria-Jordi/Casals
Galicia/Tareixa-Antoiño/Doiro
Vascoland/Ainara-Iñaki/Goikoetxea (spelling?)

Nowadays there's a trend to use as well those so-called "old fashion" names.


----------



## dahut

maxiogee said:
			
		

> Mac in front of an Irish surname is a designation of "son of".


I was told that that's exactly what "-ez" in Spanish family names means.
Fernández - son of Fernan
Álvarez - son of Álvaro
But I don't understand
López (son of Lop??) or Pérez (son of Per??) ... Per is a Norwegian name!


----------



## EvaKant

Hello to everybody,
I'm from Italy and here the most common names are Maria (for a woman) and Giuseppe (for a man). Instaed the most common surname is Rossi. We have several famous people with this last name, but the most famous in the world is Valentino Rossi who is a very strong motorcycle rider.


----------



## Maria Maya

In Brasil i think you may say that most popular names are different according to region, social position, and fashion also. For girls, compound names with Maria are very common (Maria Luisa, Maria Eduarda, Maria da Graça), but babies nowadays have other names. When i was at high school (20 years ago - i am middle class), the names wich were more common:

girls: Adriana, Andréa, Claudia, Renata...
boys: Marcelo, Alexandre...

the last years others name are more used:

girls: Camila, Sofia
Boys: Gabriel, Mateus, João

Interesting to see also that some years ago it was common to see people who compound the name of the child, half the name of the mother and half the name of the father, like Ivan + Marise = Ivanise. It was more common between humble people. Nowadays it's common to see people with rather unusual names, like Aiane, Marone, Sharone (girls names), that are sometimes adaptations of english names.


----------



## Miguelillo 87

dahut said:
			
		

> I was told that that's exactly what "-ez" in Spanish family names means.
> Fernández - son of Fernan
> Álvarez - son of Álvaro
> But I don't understand
> López (son of Lop??) or Pérez (son of Per??) ... Per is a Norwegian name!


Yes you are right!!! López come form the name Lope as Lope de Vega a famous writter, And Pérez mmh???? Maybe it comes from Pedro shoulb be interesting to know


----------



## Maria Maya

I remembered something i thought interesting, i read a text that was about a statistical study made in the USA about sending curricula using names common between black people, and others using names common between white people, and seeing the chance of being answered. It called my attention, because in Brasil the racial aspect is not clearly divided by name.


----------



## EvaKant

Maria Maya said:
			
		

> girls: Adriana, Andréa, Claudia, Renata...


 
That's interesting, here in Italy Andrea is a name for a boy


----------



## CatStar

EvaKant said:
			
		

> That's interesting, here in Italy Andrea is a name for a boy


 
I noticed that before in Italy. In Ireland Andrea is a girl´s name, same for Nicola which I seem to remember is a boy´s name in Italy?

Cat


----------



## Miguelillo 87

In México Andrea is aldo female name and Andrée is for male and female tooo. Curios 'cause in French I think Andrée it's exculsivly girl name


----------



## Eugin

As Argentina has a strong Spanish influence due to, first the Conquest on behalf of the Spanish´s crown and, second, afterwards the World Wars, the most common surnames are those of Spanish origin, i.e: Pérez, García, Rodriguez, González, which in turn, come from other very common names in Spanish, example:
*Pérez* = Pedro
*Rodriguez* = Rodrigo
*González* = Gonzalo
etc
There are also many, many Italian surnames, but I cannot think of one that may be so common as a Spanish surname...

Other surnames come from French, German and Hebrew origin and, in fact, my surname is the only one in this country.... it´s from German origin... I am an endangered species... jejeje!!


----------



## EvaKant

CatStar said:
			
		

> I noticed that before in Italy. In Ireland Andrea is a girl´s name, same for Nicola which I seem to remember is a boy´s name in Italy?
> 
> Cat


 
Right, Nicola is a boy's name. I remember an american actress that years ago named her daughter Luca because she loved Italy very much....but Luca here is a name for a boy!


----------



## caravaggio

siempre he tenido la idea que es Juan Perez...aunque creo que todo depende de la moda, quizas una novela, un perosnaje famoso..varia mucho d etiempo en tiempo


----------



## K.os

Miguelillo 87 said:
			
		

> In México Andrea is aldo female name and Andrée is for male and female tooo. Curios 'cause in French I think Andrée it's exculsivly girl name



In french we have André, a man's name and Andrée, a woman's name. However both are pronounced exactly the same. There's also Claude that can be a man's or woman's name but in this case not only is it pronounced the same, it is also written the same! Both names are more commonly male, and Claude for a female name is extremely rare.

There are more names that exist for both man and woman, a lot of the time they are made by having a 'i' sound or 'ne' at the end.

Masculine Feminine
Stéphane                         Stéphanie
Jules                                Julie
Sylvain                             Sylvie
Jocelyn                             Jocelyne
Alain                                Aline
Rejean                             Rejeanne
Jean                                Jeanne
etc...


----------



## moura

The most common Portuguese names are Maria for woman and Manuel or José for men. In stories with a fictitious Mr. and Mrs. X, the Maria and Manel couple is the protagonist.

As to surnames, I remember Silva – o senhor Silva (Mr. Silva) is also a stereotype in invented Portuguese stories- , and Santos.

Some social classes use the first names for their children as a kind of status. We see now modern couples choosing ancient names like the feminine Carlota and Caetana, or the masculine Bernardo, Dinis or Martin. 

After the event of Brazilian soap comedies, it was frequent the adoption of some Brazilian stars names, like Cláudio, Fábio and…Ronaldo for man, together with Bruna and Ivete for women.

This kind of foreign influence is also seen in other areas. For instance, before 1974 and a few years after, some families inspired in Russian names and baptized their children with Ivan or Lenine. 

Maria appears in 23% of Portuguese population names – about 2.500.000 persons.
It was commonly associated with religiously inspired names, giving origin to Maria de Fátima, da Paz, dos Santos, da Purificação, da Conceição and so on. I’ve been also _awarded_ with this kind of name, though happily most of the people just call me Maria.

My favourite man’s name is the name of my father: João.


----------



## Etcetera

moura said:
			
		

> This kind of foreign influence is also seen in other areas. For instance, before 1974 and a few years after, some families inspired in Russian names and baptized their children with Ivan or Lenine.


Why before 1974? Is it because of the revolution in Portugal in 1973?


----------



## moura

Yes Etcetera. It was given before and during the revolutionary period, particularly by people who had communist ideals and admired the personality of Russian personalities like Lenine. The Portuguese Revolutionary period started on the 25th April 1974 and ended more or less on 1975, a year marked by the then called "Hot Summer".


----------



## Etcetera

Thank you Moura.
It was something like that in Russia after the revolution of 1917 - parents used to give their children 'wild' names like Oktyabrina (from the Russian for October), Vladlen (=Vladimir Lenin), and so on. 
And when I worked as an insurance agent last summer, I met a man from Belarus whose father's hame was Engels!
The communists are sometimes very strange people...


----------



## moura

Yes, (well, I don't know if this is chatting, but...) Etecetera, sometimes parents give their children some names, as an impulse, and after on these will have to carry them all their lives. 
Lenin or Ivan ar not at all ugly names, but imagine some person named Lenine, who accidently drove his political opinians toward center or right politics. It's kind of bizarre


----------



## Etcetera

Ivan is an old Russian name, it doesn't have any connection with the communists or whatever. One of my little cousins is called Ivan. 
By the way, if one isn't satisfied with the name they were 'granted' by the parents, they can always change it! I've heard of people who did that - they didn't like their names which were too 'posh' and sounded really strangle with their surnames.


----------



## badgrammar

I haven't seen a post in this thread about it, but when you travel to Muslim countries, it is amazing how many people share the same few names - Ahmed (Ahmet, Ehmet...), Mohamed (Mehemet, mahomet...), Ahbdula (Abdula, Abdoul) and Ali....


----------



## Brioche

maxiogee said:
			
		

> The occupation can also produce "Mac" words - McEntaggert and McAnaspie, for instance, to take two alarming ones. The first comes from "mac an sagart" meaning son of the priest, the second comes from "mac an easpaig" meaning son of the bishop!
> There is no "son of the celibate"!


 
Well, _celibate_ properly means "not married"; there are many celibate men who have fathered children. 

Celibacy [ban on marriage] for clergy in the Roman Church dates from the Lateran Council of 1139 [more or less!].

These popes, who were celibate [not married] had children after 1139:
Innocent VIII, Alexander VI, Julius, Paul III, Pius IV, Gregory XIII

So what's the appropriate surname for Son of the Pope?
Mac Phápa?

McEntaggert [Mac an tSagairt] has also given us MacTaggart and Taggart.
MacAnespie [Mac an Easpuig] has also given us Aspig.

And we all know that O'Grady comes from Gráda = Illustrious


----------



## Brioche

Etcetera said:
			
		

> Ivan is an old Russian name, it doesn't have any connection with the communists or whatever. One of my little cousins is called Ivan.
> By the way, if one isn't satisfied with the name they were 'granted' by the parents, they can always change it! I've heard of people who did that - they didn't like their names which were too 'posh' and sounded really strangle with their surnames.


 
Ivan, [_along with Giovanni, Hans, Ian, Jack, Johannes, *John*, Juan, Sean etc_] is one of the many, many variants of Hebrew name _Yochanan_ = God is merciful.

 ,


----------



## Lil_Star

> That's interesting, here in Italy Andrea is a name for a boy


 
It is also used for girls, EvaKant   But here in Italy is a bit uncommon.


----------



## ronanpoirier

Maria Maya said:
			
		

> In Brazil (...) the names wich were more common:
> 
> girls: Adriana, Andréa, Claudia, Renata...
> boys: Marcelo, Alexandre...
> 
> the last years others name are more used:
> 
> girls: Camila, Sofia
> Boys: Gabriel, Mateus, João


 
Here goes the last names:

Silva (defintely)
Santos
Souza (or Sousa)
Oliveira
Schneider (yes! At least here in Rio Grande do sul it's pretty commom)
Schimidt (same as Schneider)
Rossi
Costa

It's a funny thing... some people say this is a commom last name, that is a commom last name but they don't know a person with that last name!!! hahaha since mostly last names in Brazil are Portuguese, it is easier to remember if you have heard or read anywhere  i.e.: I think the last name "Camargo" is commom, however, I only know (personaly) one family which has that last name...

Another thing about Portuguese last name: we see lots of last names which are trees names: Pereira (I love this last name), Oliveira, Parreira, Laranjeira, Figueira, etc.

Another commom name for girls: Jéssica. For boys: Rafael.


----------



## panjabigator

Many times you can tell what region of India one comes from by means of last name.  I'd say that religion, location, and maybe even language can all be determined through your name in South Asia.


----------



## Brioche

EvaKant said:
			
		

> That's interesting, here in Italy Andrea is a name for a boy


 
In Italy, the boy's name is pronouced An-*DREA*, 
but the girl's name in English-speaking countries is *AN*-drea.


----------



## Heba

The most common name for males in Egypt is certainly ''Mohammad'.Why? becase it is the name of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).In my brother's lab section at college, there are more than 30 young men named Mohammad.The second most common name for males is Ahmad which is also a name of prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).

As for common female names, I guess that they change from one year to the other. In my class, there were many Dalias.. it seems that the name Dalia was the trend back in 1983. (In general, there is a great variety in Egyptian female names that you do not usually meet many girls with the same name)

In most of the parts of Egypt, especially in upper Egypt and the Delta, each city has a few big families to which most of the people of the city belong and whose names they bear. So, I guess that the most common surname changes from one city to the other.


----------



## Brioche

Heba said:
			
		

> The most common name for males in Egypt is certainly ''Mohammad'.Why? becase it is the name of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).In my brother's lab section at college, there are more than 30 young men named Mohammad.The second most common name for males is Ahmad which is also a name of prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).
> 
> .


 
How do you distinguish between people when so many of them have the same name?


----------



## cherine

Brioche said:
			
		

> How do you distinguish between people when so many of them have the same name?


Like you/we distinguish between the so many John(s), Michael(s), Mary(s), Ann(s)....  : by their last names.


----------



## mithrellas

Miguelillo 87 said:
			
		

> Yes you are right!!! López come form the name Lope as Lope de Vega a famous writter, And Pérez mmh???? Maybe it comes from Pedro shoulb be interesting to know


 
Perez came from *Pero* (son of Pero) which I think is Pedro's ancient? form.


----------



## panjabigator

What are some Catalonian and Galician names?


----------



## mithrellas

panjabigator said:
			
		

> What are some Catalonian and Galician names?


 
Maybe the names that anybody in the rest of Spain will identify firstly as typical Catalan names, will be (male/female): 
Jordi, Montse(rrat) (the Catalonia saint patrons?), Joan and Núria (also for saints)

But we have other names not so known but also very comun here:
Andreu, Pol, Marc, Gerard, Laia, Agnés and Mireia are some examples but there are a lot more.
I am not sure but I think most of them are also for sanits.


As always, corrections are welcome.


----------



## panjabigator

Are Spaniards good at pronouncing the different names from different regions?  Ie...can a Madridleno pronounce Basque names correctly?


----------



## Brioche

cherine said:
			
		

> Like you/we distinguish between the so many John(s), Michael(s), Mary(s), Ann(s)....  : by their last names.


 
True, but you'd never find 30 young men with the same first name in your lab section in college - even four with the same name would be very rare.


----------



## cherine

True too 
But -as I said- we simply call these "duplicates" by their last names, or the compound name (i.e. name+surname) ; like Muhammad X, Muhammad Y, Muhammed A, Muhammad B....
There were five other Cherine(s) with me in the same "class" at university, people would call us by our name+surname (Cherine M., Cherine B., Cherine S., ....)


----------



## Dr. Quizá

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Are Spaniards good at pronouncing the different names from different regions?  Ie...can a Madridleno pronounce Basque names correctly?



Basque surnames are difficult because of their length and the usually intrincate switch between syllabes, but AFAIK every Basque sound does exist in Spanish in exactly the same form, despite Euskera is an isolated language which doesn't share roots with any known language and its alphabet is a simplified version of the Spanish one (it even has the "ñ"). To me, as a Spaniard, Basque makes me fell something strange, because every syllabe they say sound 100% Spanish (Galician and Catalan do sound like other languages) and the Basque accent usually sounds pretty neutral (?). It sounds to me a bit like if you take your mother tongue and switch the syllabes order to make an unintelligible sentence but you read it as if it were you language.


----------



## Brian P

In my childhood in the 30's and 40' in England, the most popular names were Shirley (because of the child movie star, Shirley Temple) and Brian.  As you can see, my name is Brian and you'll never guess my wife's name.  Yes - it's Shirley!


----------

