This marriage thing, at first, is fine. But then, when you leave the church… This joke suggests that married life is marked by disagreements. Even well-matched couples tend to fall for them, one of the first being registered when choosing the name of his firstborn. Because consensus is not usually reached the first time. After much discussion and setting various conditions –that it be pretty and euphonious, that it does not seem like a dog’s or brother-in-law’s name, that it is written the same in Catalan as in Spanish (this rule only applies, and not always, in Catalonia)–, one of the two spouses prevail and the other gives in.
It wasn’t always like this. In times of national-Catholic hegemony there were other rules, so that the baby often received the name of the saint of the day. And done. Thus, a girl born on August 15 would probably be baptized as Maria. But a child born on the 26th could receive the promising name of Ceferino; and another born on the 30th would have no better luck: perhaps he would be called Fiacrio, in honor of Fiáchra, a seventh-century Irish Catholic monk, duly canonized. Having said this about Catholicism, I would add that in Judaism things were not looking any better. They could impose the name of Mordecai on you.
Another widespread baptismal system was determined by family tradition. My name is Llàtzer because my grandfather was called that. In other families the rules were even stricter and one was baptized, for example, as Federico, almost without thinking about it, because the father, the grandfather, the great-grandfather, the great-grandfather and others were called that way. Who dares to break traditions held by successive generations?
In recent decades, cinema and television have come to renew the repertoire of names. The successes – and even the failures – of the handsome Kevin Kostner led to a rosary of Kevin babies. And with the Kevins came the Jonathan, the Jessica and the Sue Ellen, until then without roots in the Iberian Peninsula, but in the global village.
All these traditions or fashions have just been swept away in Catalonia by the irruption of Leo as the favorite name of Catalan parents, probably because of Leo Messi. According to the Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya, the most frequent name for boys here is already Leo, imposed on 433 Catalans in 2022, displacing Marc, who had held the first position for decades. Said roughly, the footballer has dethroned the evangelist.
This leadership of Leo, no longer on the pitch, but in the saints in force in the 21st century, invites us to reconsider. The first reflection is obvious: Leo is a paradigm of excellence and success, and perhaps by naming a child like this they believe they are paying tribute to the scorer and, also, they hope that something of their good work on the grass will rub off on them or, better yet, as a publicity claim. The second is that we have slow reflexes: Leo has been slowly progressing as a favorite name, since in 2014, in the phase of his Blaugrana splendor, he did not appear among the top 25 favorites, and in 2020 he did not go beyond fifth place. . But now he has already been crowned. The third, and most significant, is that religion is no longer the main beacon when it comes to baptizing boys and girls. Neither is the family structure. It can therefore be said that, to a certain extent, what he commands now, the mirror of virtues and a dream life, comes from football. And add that, among the girls, Julia resists in first position, but she is on her heels Ona, the name of a swimmer.
Is this good? Is this bad? It is what it is. When baptizing, Aristotle is no longer idolized –note: Aristotle Onassis, a little yes, because of the fortune he amassed– nor Jesus –the last famous Jesus was Jesús Gil, I won’t say more–, nor great-grandparents, who tend to to be dead, and also before they had no life in the networks, which is the life that counts today. Many citizens prefer to put their offspring in the wake of an athlete who, according to some colleagues, has been the one who has done the most for the happiness of the human race (above all, the blaugrana and the Argentine human race, who are quite similar: thanks to Messi’s goals, ordinary life now seems bearable). Does anyone give more? I hope so!
