{"id":1895,"date":"2014-01-21T12:45:33","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T12:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?p=1895"},"modified":"2014-01-21T15:48:01","modified_gmt":"2014-01-21T15:48:01","slug":"juan-vs-antonio-4-hints-for-how-to-name-your-spanish-kid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/juan-vs-antonio-4-hints-for-how-to-name-your-spanish-kid\/","title":{"rendered":"Juan vs. Antonio \u2013 4 Hints for How to Name Your Spanish Kid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Spanishnames2\"<\/a>If you have a child while living in a foreign country there are quite a few practical matters to think about. Apart from issues such as their nationality and all the horrible paperwork you need to fill out, there is something even simpler; what are you going to call the little fellow?<\/p>\n

1. Think of Famous People with Spanish Names<\/b><\/p>\n

Is your favourite actor Antonio Banderas, do you admire Iker Casillas, or have you watched every single Pen\u00e9lope Cruz film 5 times, even that weird one with Tom Cruise wearing a mask? There are many famous people with Spanish names you could use as a bit of inspiration to get you started. You need to bear in mind that some of the names of famous people aren\u2019t exactly common. For example, if you have a little girl then calling her Shakira or Arantxa is going to make her stand out at school just a little bit. The names of some older celebrities might also now sound a bit old fashioned. As a starting point thinking of celebrity names is good but your work probably isn\u2019t finished yet.<\/p>\n

2. Find a Name That is Multicultural<\/b><\/p>\n

One issue that most people don\u2019t even need to think about is giving their child a multicultural name, but it could be a great idea in this case. Let me use my case as an example to explain what I mean.\u00a0 I am Scottish but was living in South America by the time my daughter was born. I have no idea if she is going to end up living here, going to the UK to live or living elsewhere when she grows up. This meant that I couldn\u2019t call her a typically Scottish name like Morag or Ailsa, which could make life for her difficult here. Equally, I didn\u2019t want to choose a Spanish name, which could cause her problems in an English speaking country either.<\/p>\n

The best idea is to choose a multicultural name that can fit in anywhere in the world. For girls, names like Paula, Isabella, Veronica and Maria are some good examples. For boys you could choose something like Marco, Roberto or Ricardo. These are Spanish but are easy for English speakers too. Alternatively, you could use the English version and choose from Mark, Robert or Richard, for example.<\/p>\n

3. Choose a Name You Can Pronounce Easily<\/b><\/p>\n

You aren\u2019t going to choose a name you can\u2019t even pronounce properly, are you? Most Spanish names are relatively easy but you might get tripped up by an accent or a rolling r here or there. This kind of goes back to the multicultural idea, as a name that also works in English should be easier for you to pronounce even if your Spanish still isn\u2019t that great. Taking an online Spanish test<\/a> will help you understand how you are progressing with the language before you make this decision.<\/p>\n

4. Don\u2019t Forget to Think About the Surnames<\/b><\/p>\n

English speakers are generally used to working out how to combine their baby\u2019s name with a single surname. If you are going to be living in Spain you will find that both surnames get used on occasion; the father\u2019s and then the mother\u2019s as a second surname. This means that you need to take a bit longer to think about a name that works well with both surnames.<\/p>\n

What is your favourite Spanish name? Have you named your kids with Spanish names? What did you choose?<\/p>\n

\"Spanishnames\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have a child while living in a foreign country there are quite a few practical matters to think about. Apart from issues such as their nationality and all the horrible paperwork you need to fill out, there is something even simpler; what are you going to call the little fellow? 1. Think of(\u2026)<\/p>\n

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\n\t \t\t\t\tCONTINUE READING »<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236,17],"tags":[286,226,195,37],"class_list":["post-1895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-must-know","category-news-politics-religion-history-law","tag-latin-america","tag-names","tag-spain","tag-spanish"],"yoast_head":"\nJuan vs. Antonio \u2013 4 Hints for How to Name Your Spanish Kid<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How will you name your child if they are born in a Spanish speaking country?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/juan-vs-antonio-4-hints-for-how-to-name-your-spanish-kid\/\" \/>\n<meta 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