names

Understanding How & Why Apodos (Nicknames) are Used in Latino Culture

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el apodo (m): Nombre que suele darse a una persona, en sustitución del propio, normalmente tomado de sus peculiaridades físicas o de alguna otra circunstancia Although certainly not unique to the Latino culture, los apodos, or nicknames, are ubiquitous in Spanish-speaking countries whether it be on the playground, within families, or of course, in professional sports. These clever and silly names are an inherent part of Latino culture, yet usually misunderstood by outsiders and miscategorized as offensive. As the definitionRead More ...

Naming Our (Future) Bilingual Baby

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Next week I will be 33 weeks pregnant with our second child, and my husband and I are still deciding on a name. With our first, we agreed early on that we wanted a Spanish first name that was easy to pronounce in English (more importantly one that my husband felt comfortable with). It was important to me that he stay connected with his Chilean side and I wanted to start with his name. Oddly enough, it was my AmericanRead More ...

What’s In A Name? So Many Choices, Only One Winner

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I’ve had baby names on the mind lately, and at this late stage of my pregnancy it’s kind of hard not to. Every sharp kick, jab and foretelling Braxton Hicks contraction is a reminder to stop procrastinating and decide on something, anything, before delivery day. For my first pregnancy four years ago, it was different, as most first pregnancies tend to be. I was so excited that I basically peed on a stick and ran to a bookstore to purchaseRead More ...

What to do When Your Child’s Name is Mispronounced

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As I mentioned in an older post, Marisol’s name is the source of some pronunciation issues for our friends and even family, sometimes. A few nights ago, Marisol did something about this that just made me so proud that I thought I should share. I was in the kitchen setting the table for dinner with a great friend of ours, when I heard Mari in the other room saying, “No, it’s Mah-ree-SOL. Mah-ree-SOL. It’s Mah-ree-SOL, Nathan.”  I ran in toRead More ...

In The Name Of… Culture?

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I recently went through my running list of possible names for our second child – to be born in September – with my husband. I’m sad to report it didn’t go very well – although I was not surprised. He didn’t really like most of them. So we’re kind of back to to square one. For some – especially within the Latino population, naming their child might not be a very difficult task for they have no problem choosing theRead More ...

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