Thoughts on Santiago

[KatRee]

Hi all- would like to get an idea of initial reaction to the name Santiago - thoughts?

Also, if there are any Spanish people reading, could you tell me if Tiago is typically used as a nickname, or would you say it's more a standalone name in its own right? I know Santi is the most typical nn, but would ideally like something with different options

Thanks in advance

Calling a child Santi is weird. It means saint. Would you call him Saint?

Hi OP ☺️

My DH is Spanish and I'm Scottish. We live in Scotland. Just reading your thing about the two surnames, my suggestion is use a hyphen! We did for our DC, so they're all SpanishSurname-ScottishSurname. I was a bit against the idea at first (I couldn't tell you why now haha) but DH and his brother who lives here too were both very pro the idea when I was first pregnant and we were working out what to do about first DCs last name. It honestly saves so much hassle from explain both parts are the surname. My DH is quite jealous actually as he's had lots of problems over the years with payslips, work computer accounts etc using the second part of this last name as his last name.

Also, regarding your thinking your DC will have to explain their parentage whenever they introduced themselves in England with a Spanish name, it's not been an issue for my lot (all have Spanish names). If anything it's just a 'My Dad's Spanish' and that's it. No problems, so I wouldn't let it concern you.

If you're having a middle name though be prepared for everyone is Spain to think it's the second part of the first name 🙃 DC get called Firstname Middlename all the time over there haha

Oh! And for Santiago - lovely name. DH says only nickname he's ever heard for it is Santi, and that Tiago is a Portuguese name so he would find a Santiago wanting to be called Tiago odd. He also says it's a nice name and he knows people of various ages called that (so not an only abeulo type name, if you're worried about that haha)

@GreatStuff67 so is Tiago not Spanish for James?

Isn't it the Iago that's James? Sant Iago = Saint James/Jacob.

It's Celtic, apparently, hence why Welsh and Galician.

Reminds me of a charecter in Brooklyn 99

It’s a bit like calling a child San Francisco (St Francis)

@SwedishEdith not sure where the L comes in.

I think Santi is fabulous for a girl or boy.

@GreatStuff67 I love the Spanish way of using both names. The U.K. tradition is so sexist May I ask what is the normal practice when they marry. So, two Spaniards marrying with 4 surnames between them?

Which L?

I think Santiago sounds great and works in more Catholic countries. The French have Jean-Baptiste, which sounds gorgeous to me. But I am just puzzled that the shortening would be Tiago over Iago.

Lago. Some are saying Lago is James but the name is Santiago, no L.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela

It's a capital i > Iago.

Oh 😂 sorry!

You say UK, but in Scotland for a long time women would keep their own family names on marriage or be known by both that and their married name. It's seen a lot in old court cases, eg Mary McDonald or Sinclair

I like in England . Sorry just using U.K. for ease. Have Irish family and they use make surname too. No offence.

*male

@SwedishEdith when I type a capital L it doesn’t look like l. 🤷🏼‍♀️

It's like Ee ar go.

There is no L in Iago.

Dani Dyer's baby

God I need glasses 🤓 or the heat has got to me. Ignore!😂

Neither person getting married changes their surname, and if they have kids the kids get the first part of Dad's surname and first part of Mum's (traditionally, in that order for heterosexual couples). So, for example..

Dad: J. García Martínez
Mum: M. López Pérez
Child: L. García López

So you don't really have 'The Andersons' or anything like that to refer to the whole family. If anything, you'd go by the DCs surname.

I think it's pretty smart too, but I was never planning on changing my surname even if I hadn't married a Spanish man! Haha

@Benjispruce4 Yes, it literally means Saint James, but I don't think it's anything like naming a child 'Saint James', because it's so well-established as a name in the Spanish-speaking world, it's kind of taken on a life of its own. My Spanish/Galician partner, when asked to translate Saint James into Spanish, says 'San Jaime', Jaime being the more commonly-used modern version, I think. Although of course, the City and the cathedral are both named after and inextricably linked to Saint James. I think it's quite a difficult concept for English-speakers to get, and don't even know if I'm explaining it right myself! But long-story short, it's a normal name in Spain and Spanish people don't think 'oh, you're called Saint James?- how weird!' Also, Saint in Spanish is San/Santa/santo -not Santi. Santi is just a shortened version of the name. Still good to know what reaction it might get here though, thank you!

Hi @GreatStuff67 - thanks for the super helpful input and advice

So good to know about how the surname-thing works for you! Yes, my DP gets the same as yours, with things address to Mr SecondSurname, which of course isn't the one he uses mostly.

Can I ask, do your children have Spanish passports as well as British ones? I ask because my DP tells me that to be registered in Spain, they'd HAVE to have two surnames and I wondered how this would work- could it be hypenated in the UK and written without the hyphen on Spanish documents? Or would that cause issues because they wouldn't match EXACTLY? I'm already imagining a bureaucratic nightmare arising somehow!

Really happy to know that having Spanish names hasn't caused any problems for them, hopefully that bodes well for our little one!

I would like him to have a middle name too, but even my DP doesn't really understand the concept as it doesn't really exist in Spain, does it? You either have one first name, or two with a hyphen, so sort of the opposite of how British names tend to work!

@SwedishEdith My understanding is that Iago is a form of James and the name Santiago comes from 'Saint James' elided together. It started being used as a name and the name Tiago then in turn came from shortening the name Santiago, but was only used in Portugal rather than Spain and it seems it's lost it's association in peoples minds with the name Santiago. I kind of feel like you can make any part of a longer name into a nickname, but from what DP and other posters have said, it sounds like people in Spain tend not to do that with Santiago/Tiago and just view them as separate names, one of which isn't even Spanish! Complicated....

I'm in Spain. In DS' primary school there are:

Santiago nn Santi
Santino nn Santi
Iago (as is) with an i
Tiago, from Argentina.

They're aged between 6-12.

I actually don't know any adults with those names!

As for surnames, I get called 'Mary Charlotte as they see my middle name as my first surname, rather than 'Mary Smith'. It's vaguely annoying, but meh. For that reason DS doesn't have a middle name, just Name + My Surname + DH Surname (as of about 2007, you could choose the order of the names!). If he has kids, DH's surname gets dropped, mine kept 💪

I'm from UK, DH Spanish. DS has 6 cousins here in our same small town, all with the DH surname + different mother's name, helps work out which kid people are talking about!