In our present time, the idea of Latina names often pertains to Latin Americans or South Americans. The continent was coined Latin America due to the century’s influence left by Spain and Portugal’s colonization. Latino and Latina are the nouns used to identify people coming from Latin America. Most of them inherited most of the cultures from either Spain or Portugal including some of their traditions, way of speaking, and religion. In this article, you will get to know a brief history of the Latina names. You will also learn about the Latina naming conventions, Latina differences against Hispanics, list of awesome Latino and Latina name suggestions for your babies.
In the late 15th century, Spain and Portugal rose to power and started expedition campaigns to compete for influence and power. They sent voyagers on the western side of the Atlantic and reached the remote islands of the Caribbean regions. At first, their voyagers were sent to create maps and verify locations. Eventually, these explorations lead to an invasion, conquering the unwary inhabitants of the islands, and calling the newly discovered western region the “New World”.
Spain conquered most of the lands of North America, destroying most Native American settlements and enslaving women and children. The settlements were then turned into colonies, forcing the natives to pay tribute and resources in the name of the Kingdom of Spain. Their colonization eventually spread towards South America, conquering most of the western lands while the eastern areas are occupied by the Portuguese. The colonization of Spain and Portugal lasted more than 300 years, heavily influencing the customs and culture of its inhabitants.
In the early 19th century, the supremacy of Spain and Portugal started to collapse. Most of their colonies started to rebel one by one and forced themselves into liberation. In around 1826, almost all of the regions occupied by the Spanish in South America were lost. At the end of the Spanish-American war, all Spanish colonies in the western side of North America were lost to the United States of America.
Despite the liberation of the former colonies in America, they remained Spanish-speaking or Portuguese-speaking, thus the term “Latin America” associating both languages from Old Latin. Men from Latin countries are called “Latinos”, while women are called “Latinas”.
Both Latinas and Hispanics have Spanish origins, but they differ from each other according to their context. The term Hispanic refers to a person born in a country whose main language is the Spanish language. A Latina refers to a person who came from Latin America or was a descendant of any Latin American country but does not necessarily speak Spanish. To summarize, Latino or Latina is a generic term for a person coming from any Latin American country regardless if they are Spanish-speaking. Hispanics are people that came from Spanish-speaking countries, including Spain.
It is also good to know that a person can be both Latina/o and Hispanic. For example, a Mexican is both Latina and Hispanic since Mexico is a Latin country and Spanish is their language. However, not all Latinas are Hispanics, and vice versa. Brazil, for example, is a Latin Country, which makes Brazilians Latina. Their primary language is Portuguese, therefore they are not Hispanics. Spaniards are Hispanic since they came from Spain, a Spanish-speaking country, yet they are not Latinos since Spain is not a Latin American country.
Hispanic Countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela
Latin Countries by Region:
North and Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama
South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela
Caribbean Region: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti
We can also illustrate the differences between Hispanic and Latinas using the below diagram:
Latina naming conventions directly follow the Hispanic or Spanish naming custom. Their names can be single names or double names (also known as compound names). Double names are treated as a single name and are always mentioned together when being called. Latina surnames also follow the Hispanic last name convention. They also have two surnames inherited from their father and their mother. The first surname is inherited from the paternal surname of the father (surname of the grandfather), while the second surname is inherited from the paternal surname of the mother (surname of the grandfather on the mother’s side). In this way, the surnames of the grandfathers from both parents are passed on to the grandchildren.
There are far too many Latino names that exist today, especially since some names were derived and converted from another language into a Spanish version. Below are some of the most commonly used Latin names for boys.
Latina names for girls are likely more numerous than boy names. There are a variety of very popular Latina girl names compared to boy names, which gives parents more options if they have a baby girl. Below are some of the most used Latina names for girls today.
The most common Hispanic Last Name is Garcia, followed by Rodriguez and Hernandez. This statistic came from the Name Census and they compiled the 4000 most commonly used Hispanic names. This applies also to Latina last names. According to the United States Census Bureau, the most frequently occurring surname from 2000 to 2010 is:
These Latino surnames are considered one of the fastest-growing surnames in the United States in a decade, together with Asian surnames since the year 2000.
You can also pick a nice Latina dog name for your fur buddy. Most owners tend to rename their pet dogs or cats with Hispanic names, often from famous Mexican novels and Spanish novels.
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