Why I disdain Spanish names

Ever since I was a child, I have had called Spanish-sounding names "old-school", "outmoded" and "outdated". That still rings true for me today. When I was in grade school, I had only a few friends with Spanish names, with the rest having creative or English names.

If you could still remember my former blog post here about my impression with names, here's a follow up. Some Pinoy celebrities now name their children from different and/or contrasting cultures. Sometimes the naming isn't really good (say you have a Biblical name and a Japanese name - they are from contrasting cultures and that's not a good meaning to the person).

My friend gave birth to a son two Wednesdays ago. Earlier, when he was still in the womb, I predicted some name combinations for him - mostly English and American names. Only one or two were Spanish-sounding, which means to say that I really prefer American to Spanish names. But in the end, my friend and her husband gave their son two Spanish-sounding names, which in my opinion, will make him be the subject of bullies later in life. (Diego Alfonso is his name.)

Why the subject of bullies? Because not too many famous people have the name Diego and the ones we know now are of not-so-good influence. Alfonso is too outmoded, so to speak.

My opinion from two and a half years ago still hasn't changed. These are the following:

1. I think there is a trend here that ever since Martial Law, parents have started giving their children English and other non-Spanish names and over the years, they have started going creative over these (e.g. Arnel, Cheska, Paolo/Paulo, etc.)

2. Even our Muslim countrymen go with their own flow as well, also following a similar trend that sets them apart from us (Christians). But I do not count that fact here.

3. I really like the style of Chinese-Filipinos naming their children English names. They tend to follow American trends as the names from those trends are easier to pronounce, spell and translate to Chinese.

4. Last summer, when I was taking Comm III in UP Diliman, we were asked to prepare an impromptu speech about "If you were to legally change your name, what would it be and why?" I selected Morgan Grace because I like the name Morgan for some reason (I usually forget it) and Grace is a Christian value which I wish to have. But it's a fail; I don't know any Morgans.

5. Ever since the Spanish era up to around the 1950's or 1960's, Filipinos tend to name their children after saints, values and Spanish nobility names. That's not the case anymore because of globalization and baby naming by Filipinos should follow a trend - that is, in English names.

Any questions? Post comments below.