Message: "Help with Spanish names & others"

[Facts] Help with Spanish names & others

by Norah Namenerd

12/2/2011, 9:10 AM

I'm trying to group all the names in the Social Security's long lists by spelling. There are a lot of names in use in Spanish-speaking groups that I need some help with.

For example, is Escarlet pronounced the same as Scarlet? If so, should I group those together? And if so, what about Estephanie/Estefani/Esthefany and Stephanie?

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- ClaudiaS +2

12/2/2011, 11:37 AM

A Spanish-speaker would pronounce Scarlet and Stephanie as "Escarlet" and "Estephanie," so they would be considered spelling variants of the same name. But since an English-speaker would perceive them as different names, I don't think you should combine them. To me, Scarlet and Escarlet are as different as Stella and Estella.

But if you were making a list of names used only by Spanish-speakers, then I would combine them.

- Norah Namenerd +1

12/2/2011, 12:01 PM

Thanks!

would you do the same with

Jocelyn/Joceline/Joselin

Yosselin/Yocelyn/Yoselin

Dioselyn/Dioselin

(the J's, Y's, and D's all have a ton of spellings each)

- Ilex (jennifer)

12/10/2011, 6:34 PM

Yes. I suppose that it depends on the parents' accent, how long they've been here, how well they know English. I work with native Spanish speakers, and am having trouble thinking of a time when they couldn't say the J at the begining of a name. But,I do have a Nancy spelled Nansi and a future Allison spelled Allyson in my list of students because of the accent.

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