12:40 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bilingualism|children|Family · 1 Comment
20 Feb 2007
As Latinos move from a “minority” in the U.S. to the majority, how babies are named is changing. According to an article on Univision.com, the baby girl name Maria is now more popular than its English counterpart, Mary. Among Latinos, Maria ranks as the number one baby girl name, with Jose as the number one baby boy name.
What would be more interesting to study, in my opinion, is how Latinos are naming their babies from generation to generation. I know within my family, for example, the first generation to be born here in the U.S. were graced with names that allow for easy assimilation (ahem, Maegan for example). Second and third generation parents named their children with distinctly Latino names.
Do we , those of us born here, worry less about assimilation, about standing out as a Latino? Or do we choose more “latinized” names for our offspring as a reflection of our Latino pride?
Via/ Univision.com
9:04 am By Maegan La Mala · children|Family|mexico · 1 Comment
3 Jul 2006
While we await final word on who the next president of Mexico will be, authorities in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico are regulating baby names, a super important issue, no doubt. The government is tired of babies with strange and foreign names. According to Fox News:
Among the names deemed “improper” by the state are Lluvia, which means rain, Azul, which means blue and Kevin….The rules dictate that if parents must name their child a foreign-sounding name, then it has to be followed by a Spanish middle name, like Maria…Parents who dare to be different by tricking up the spelling of a name better think twice — only “common spellings” are going to fly.
Too bad this regualtion wasn’t in place in my hood when I was growing up. It would have saved a schoolmate named “Cheesy” a lifetime of being made fun of.
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter