Costa Rica News – Ticos are no longer looking to the Bible to inspire the names of their children, it seems.
The media and internet have opened the options. Now, instead of being named after saints, many have the name of movie stars or football players.
José Macario de Jesús and Fermina Luisa de la Trinidad are names of the past. As are all of the long lines of names. In the past, kids had to learn to memorize and write up to five names.
Someone named Jesús María Engracia Eloísa Rafaela might have been known to the world simply as Maria and only her family would have know the rest. The idea was that being named after a saint would lead to that saint protecting the child. We still see plenty of Josés and Marías and even some older religious names that are coming back, such as Gabriel and Sofia.
Most of today’s babies, however, are Emmas, Keylors and Angelinas. People from all over the world easily communicate now. Names from other cultures have added to the range of options in onomastics.
