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Massiel is a Spanish/Hispanic female name. It was adopted by a Spanish singer born 1947. Anyone have any idea about its origin?
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The overwhelming majority of Massiels on the web are the singer in question. According to Wikipedia, Massiel's real name is María de los Ángeles Santamaría Espinosa. Could it be she constructed it as a near-acronym? Goodle also uncovered an ancient and obscure anagrammatic reference of yours truly: http://www.behindthename.com/bb/arcview.php?id=20812&board=gen http://www.behindthename.com/bb/arcview.php?id=20812&board=gen :)
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I tried to find the genesis of Massiel as first name but it seems a bit obscure.
The only reference that I have is that in 1965 her artistic name/nickname was "Maciel", and that in 1966 it was "Massiel":
"1965 (...) Durante un permiso viaja a Madrid para ver a Maritchu, y ésta le presenta a una amiga suya que quería cantar, llamada Maciel.
1966 (...) Vuelve a Madrid y descubre que Maciel se llama Massiel, ya es cantante y después de revolucionar el festival de Mallorca gana su primer single, "Rufo el pescador"."
http://www.clubcultura.com/clubmusica/clubmusicos/aute/suvida02.htm
I don't know the origin of Maciel, because it can be a nickname of María del Cielo, for example, but not of María de los Ángeles (usually nicknamed as Nines, in Madrid). Perhaps Maciel had a familiar origin or it was simply her first artistic name (created by her father, perhaps, an artist manager).
The change from Maciel to Massiel implies one pronunciation change, from TH to S (in European Spanish, CI is pronounced THEE, and SI is pronounced SEE) and I don't have a clue about the reason of it.
The transformation of a possible *Masiel in Massiel (in Spanish, SS is not possible) is an attempt to "internationalise" artists' names, a usual thing among Spanish singers' in '60s (usually, an imposition of the record companies): Raphael (instead of Rafael), Mike Ríos (nowadays, Miguel Ríos), Micky...
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
The only reference that I have is that in 1965 her artistic name/nickname was "Maciel", and that in 1966 it was "Massiel":
"1965 (...) Durante un permiso viaja a Madrid para ver a Maritchu, y ésta le presenta a una amiga suya que quería cantar, llamada Maciel.
1966 (...) Vuelve a Madrid y descubre que Maciel se llama Massiel, ya es cantante y después de revolucionar el festival de Mallorca gana su primer single, "Rufo el pescador"."
http://www.clubcultura.com/clubmusica/clubmusicos/aute/suvida02.htm
I don't know the origin of Maciel, because it can be a nickname of María del Cielo, for example, but not of María de los Ángeles (usually nicknamed as Nines, in Madrid). Perhaps Maciel had a familiar origin or it was simply her first artistic name (created by her father, perhaps, an artist manager).
The change from Maciel to Massiel implies one pronunciation change, from TH to S (in European Spanish, CI is pronounced THEE, and SI is pronounced SEE) and I don't have a clue about the reason of it.
The transformation of a possible *Masiel in Massiel (in Spanish, SS is not possible) is an attempt to "internationalise" artists' names, a usual thing among Spanish singers' in '60s (usually, an imposition of the record companies): Raphael (instead of Rafael), Mike Ríos (nowadays, Miguel Ríos), Micky...
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
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