Hispanic Baby Names

From the Hispanic baby names, you can tell the meaning, origin, history, and culture of ancient times of Spain. With the knowledge of the history of the baby names, you can trace the family tree and ancestors. Knowing the family tree and ancestors, you get the clue on the history and culture of Spain.

The term Hispanic is from Latin Hispanicus which means from Hispania Iberian Peninsula of Spain. Now, the Hispanic pertains to a person from Latin America or Spanish from United States of America.

Originally, the Hispanic baby names originate the Latin dialect of the three northern part of Spain. The dialect spread to the Kingdom of Castille. Later, the dialect became the official language of Spain called Spanish. Eventually, the Spanish language spread to Americas around five centuries ago.

The Spanish is a romantic language. Spoken in many countries by millions, the language is the most romantic language. It is also one of the six official language on United Nations, second most spoken language of United States, and fifth most spoken language of the world.

At the beginning, they are only given one name which is the first name. The first name is to identify or distinguish from person to another. The population grew steadily. They come up of baby name that tells the physical, parent name, occupation, place, military, religion, and nationality characteristics.

The name can physically describe the person. For example, thin, fat, big, fair complexion, white complexion, or dark complexion tells the characteristics the person. Simply add the word after the first name. For example, Roberto Gordo (Roberto the fat), Roberto Delgado (Roberto the thin), Roberto Grande (Roberto the big), Roberto Rubio (Roberto the blonde), Roberto Moreno (Roberto the fair complexion), Roberto Blanco (Robert the white complexion), and Roberto Negron (Roberto the dark complexion) physically describe the characteristics of Roberto.

The name can also tell the name of the parent like Roberto Son of Alvaro. However, the Spaniards developed a short version by adding ez, az, is, or oz at the end. For example, Roberto Rodriguez means Roberto son of Rodrigo, Roberto Alvarez means Roberto son of Alvaro, Roberto Mendez means Roberto son of Mendo, and Roberto Gonzalez means Roberto son of Gonzalo.

The name can also tell the occupation of the person like Panadero (baker), Cocinero (chef), Torrero (bull fighter), Atalaya (guard tower), and Escudero (squire). For example, Roberto Panadero means Roberto the baker, and Roberto Cocinero means Roberto the chef.

The origin of baby name is also a popular practice. The word de means "from", while the word del or del las means "from the". For example, Roberto de Lugo means Roberto who lives from the town of Lugo, Roberto Del Monte means Roberto who is from the mountain, and Roberto de las Castillo means Roberto who is from the Castle.

In ancient times, the military has major role on the history and culture of Spain. Naturally, there are many Hispanic or Spanish baby names that came from the military. For example, Rico means strong ruler, Garcia means brave in battle, Sargento means sergeant, and Teniente means lieutenant.

The Roman Catholic has great influence over Spain. In fact, Spain brought the religion to many countries. So, there are many names with Roman Catholic origin. For example, Rosario means rosary, Santos means saints, and Salvador means savior.

Lastly, the name can tell the nationality of the person. For example, Catalano is from Catalan, Franco is from France, and Aleman is from Germany.

In Hispanic culture, the wife gets to keep her maiden name. In this case, the word de implies "wife of". For example, Maria de Gonzalez Alvarez means Maria Gonzalez is wife of Alvarez. Another Hispanic culture, a person is usually given two surnames (name of father and mother). Sometimes, the two surname is separated by "y" which means "and". For example, Maria Gonzalez y Alvarez means daughter of Gonzalez and Alvarez. Finally, the name can also tell the character like Alvaro (truth speaker), Felicidad (happiness), and Alberto (bright).

About the Author

Dennis Estrada is a webmaster of unique baby names, biblical meaning of names, and female baby names website where you can find the stories, origin, and meaning of names and babies.