Funky Names
In Ecuador, Spanish names are not particularly popular. Instead, parents like to give their children English (or, at least, English-sounding) names. If you are from Germany, you might be familiar with this trend: during the communist rule in the former GDR, English names were similarly popular. It is, really, a way to aspire to US wealth — if you cannot give them a US passport, at least give them an American name. This way, lots of people here are called Jenny, Edison, Jefferson or Alex.
The point where it becomes really funny, though, is when parents not only misspell names (such as Mirian, instead of Miriam) but totally miss the name’s meaning. Can you imagine naming your child Stalin or Darwin!? Both of them are present in my daily tutoring group! But, hell, these are vaguely English names, aren’t they? Well, not really…
