Foreign given names in Spanish youth: evidence of a globalized society

Abstract

This paper provides evidence of the impact of the Anglo-American culture on Spanish language and society. Societal phenomena such as globalization, migration and the media are observable in every area of Spanish people’s daily life. This study reveals the extent of the popularity of foreign given names, mostly English, in Spanish society. English given names seem to be currently associated with such values as high fashion and social prestige. Study of variables frequency, gender and age reveal that the choice of English first names is becoming very popular. A comparative analysis of English given names in the 1960s and in the 2010s in Spain is carried out. The dataset was collected from the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE) and the results report that English first names occur quite frequently among people aged 25 years or younger and therefore represent a new tendency. The paper includes discussion of adaptations of some of the examined English names to Spanish.