'Anxiety', 'Pains'....Why do people give their kids such awful names? And then there's Cher with 'Chastity'. Well, THAT backfired...
"The novel has been reborn about 400 times, but it's like cinema is stuck in the birth canal."
Haha, I never noticed. Those are interesting names. I think that character did point out that she wasn't happy with hers and that makes sense to the story of her coming into her identity.
shareI came on here for that exact reason. That name is awful.
And then there's Cher with 'Chastity'. Well, THAT backfired...
Well, there's an explanation for everything, and in this case those names come from religion and superstition (always hand in hand).
In Catholic religion the Virgin Mary figure is very important as you probably know already , and we have her representing all kind of superstitions. Old people thought that devotion can overcome any given problem so they pray to the Virgen de Los Dolores (Virgin of the Pains) to end their suffering or to the Virgen de la Ansiedad (anxiety) for the same reasons. People pick those names for their daughters honoring the Virgin Mary in order to have her help to protect them.
The same goes for an incredible number of variations for cures or places ; Virgen de la Salud (health), Virgen de las Montañas, (mountains), Virgen del Amor (Love) and so on.
Dolores was very, very popular, and is a name little kids find impossible to say, so they say Lola, which back in the days wasn't a proper name but a nickname for Dolores, as Pepe is for José or Tony for Anthony. Today Lola is a name with its own identity. (btw, Lolita means little Lola)
Here in Spain we don't use those names any more or have very little use over country villages, as people are less and less religious and think of them as something related to their grandparents and old people, and find them as tacky as you could. In the american spanish countries, religion and superstition are still an important part of the majority of the population, so they still seem to be popular. My guess is that in two or three generations will also be forgotten there, but who knows.
I hope it helps. Excuse my english as is not my first language!
Enjoyed your post. Interesting stuff.
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