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Thanks to all of you!

In Spain

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In Spain, Mariposa is odd, but it is used. There is a DGRN (Dirección General de los Registros y del Notariado) sentence allowing the use of Mariposa as feminine name: 2/9/93 (6ª). Before 1993, the name was rejected and there are not girls named Mariposa (in Spain).

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Maybe it was used among anarchists in the first quarter of 20th century, just as other natural names, but I have not proofs of this.

The problem with using Mariposa as a given name, at least on the western side of the Atlantic, is that in Mexican slang "mariposa" means "gay man", and is usually not thought of as one of the more complementary terms for "gay man". See the following link to a book titled Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa for an explanation of the word:

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http://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Boy-Memories-Mariposa-Latinidad/dp/0299219003

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In other words, in Mexican-American culture, naming a girl Mariposa would sort of be like naming a girl Fairy in Anglo-American culture. Still doable, but a name where parents would have to carefully help their daughter deal with certain kinds of teasing she might get.

I haven't had the opportunity

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to bestow it on a real child (and may never), but it is very high on my list, as is the word Butterfly (a guilty pleasure). I use Mariposa as a sort of nom de masque myself. I see no reason in the world that it should not be used as a legitimate name in its own right. The nn's Mari and Posi / Posey are easily derived and appealing as well.

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I have had a single laboring patient who was called Mariposa. She was Mexican; her given name was not Mariposa but her family called her this as a pet name (I forget her real name, I'm afraid).

In Spanish America, I've never heard of a girl named "Mariposa" and I guess that is what happens with "farfalla" (italian) and "papillon" (french). Nevertheless, you never know...