Advertisement

It's official: Lady Di and Superman live in Spain

Steve Tallantyre
Steve Tallantyre - [email protected]
It's official: Lady Di and Superman live in Spain
People named after dead celebrities and comic book heroes are officially resident in Spain but the longest-lived male residents have English names. Photos: John Stillwell/AFP/Gareth Simpson

The latest official registry of Spanish residents includes people named after the British princess and the American superhero, as well as 604 Shakiras, a Kevin Kostner and a Maradona.

Advertisement

The 2013 list of official residents in Spain, published on Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics, contains quite a few surprises.

Traditional Spanish names were obviously the most popular, with Antonio (739,523) and José (672,826) topping the charts for men.

The female list was headed by María Carmen (674,181) and María (651,441).

But others living in the country have much less mundane monikers, according to Spanish daily Heraldo.es.

The Barcelona-resident Colombian pop star Shakira has 43 baby girls named after her in her new home city, and shares her name with 604 Spaniards in total.

The population also includes 40 babies named after the Barcelona footballer Neymar and more than 20 named after his teammate, Messi.

Supermán lives in Spain too, though there was no mention of his civilian alter ego Clark Kent.

Pamela Anderson, Kevin Kostner and Lady Di are among the other unlikely — and often creatively spelled — names.

There are also 76 Canutos (from King Cnut),  515 Ots (from the German Otto) and 64 patriotically titled María Españas, 23 of whom live in Huelva.

The 122 women called Transfiguración share Spain's longest first name while 221 must wrestle with the triple-barrelled mouthful of María Immaculada Concepción.

It also appears the Mediterranean lifestyle is beneficial for expat longevity. The longest-lived men in Spain all have English names: Edward Albert, Reginald John, Albert William and Ronald Frederick.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also