Names

[Maria]

Angela wrote:

<<My sister's name is Rhiannon (mom & dad were inspired
by the Fleetwood Mac song).  It's a Welsh name meaning
"witch," (might be useful for those of you writing
fanfic).  It's pronounced ree-ANN-in, emphasis on the
"ann" sound.  She loves having an unusual name, except
it's frustrating when no one can pronounce/spell it.

Other unusual names I've come across (most of which
are quite nice, IMO):
- Lark (female)
- Desiree (female, pronounced "dez-er-ay")
- Montserrat (female, nickname was "Montsie")
- Gretta (female)
- Marisol (female)
- Pilar (female, pronounced "pea-lar,"  not
"pill-ar.")>>

Some of your list are not that strange, only foreign. Spanish,
actually. 

Marisol is Maria del Sol, but noone uses the longer version. Sol
means Sun in Spanish.

Montserrat is the name of a mountain in Catalonia, and there is a
monastery there, in honor of our Lady of Montserrat, supposedly the
Virgin Mary appeared there, normally to some sheppard (i don't know
their leggend specifically). 

Pilar is Maria del Pilar, the cathedral is in Zaragoza (Aragon,
Spain). I don't remember the story very well.

In general, in Spain is very common to have names like that. The
Virgin appeared to some kids in Fatima, and they build a church
there, and she was remembered as the Lady of Fatima, and Fatima or
Maria de Fatima, or something similar, is used as a name. Some names
are more common in that region than others, some get "national",
everybody uses them. For instance, Monsterrat is most common in
Catalonia, less in other parts of Spain, while Pilar is very much
used everywhere.

Gretta sounds german to me, and i know people in Spain called Desiree
as well.

About funny names... there are some names that are not very used in
Spain any more, only rarely, that are indeed strange. One of them,
for instance, is the name of my future father in law: Indalecio. I
can't think of many right now, i don't interact with them as often
now that i'm in the US for so long. But well, that was a little
contribution to the names discussion...

Maria, feeling talkative






=====
Maryblue
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"Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling
in love" - Eistein

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