[Facts] Re: "Negative" names
in reply to a message by E.W.
Many Catholic "Marian" names have less than great meanings. The worse part is that women whose name is "Maria X" tend to go by "X" - so a Maria dos Prazeres is called Prazeres ("pleasures") in her daily life! ("Pleasures, eat your soup!" xD)
Other than the examples you mentioned, I've heard:
Maria do Socorro ("socorro!" is the word you use when crying for help)
Maria da Pena (pena means "feather" or "quill" in Portuguese, but coincides with the word for "pity" or "sentence")
Maria dos Remédios (literally "remedies", but also means "medicine, drug")
Maria da Agonia ("agony")
Maria das Necessidades ("necessities"... also a euphemism for using the bathroom)
Maria do Desterro ("banishment")
Maria do Pranto ("tears, despair")
In Spanish:
María de los Suspiros ("sighs")
María de la Regla ("menstruation").
More ideas:
Calvin (bald), Cecily (blind), Portia (pig), Cassius (empty), Desdemona (ill-fated), Persephone (murder, destroy), Blaise (lisp), Balbina /-o (stammerer), Livius / Livy (envy), Serge (servant - I suppose it depends on context), Ptolemy (aggressive), and surnames like Mallory, Cameron, and Kennedy.
Other than the examples you mentioned, I've heard:
Maria do Socorro ("socorro!" is the word you use when crying for help)
Maria da Pena (pena means "feather" or "quill" in Portuguese, but coincides with the word for "pity" or "sentence")
Maria dos Remédios (literally "remedies", but also means "medicine, drug")
Maria da Agonia ("agony")
Maria das Necessidades ("necessities"... also a euphemism for using the bathroom)
Maria do Desterro ("banishment")
Maria do Pranto ("tears, despair")
In Spanish:
María de los Suspiros ("sighs")
María de la Regla ("menstruation").
More ideas:
Calvin (bald), Cecily (blind), Portia (pig), Cassius (empty), Desdemona (ill-fated), Persephone (murder, destroy), Blaise (lisp), Balbina /-o (stammerer), Livius / Livy (envy), Serge (servant - I suppose it depends on context), Ptolemy (aggressive), and surnames like Mallory, Cameron, and Kennedy.
This message was edited 12/15/2010, 4:03 PM