Carmen

This is a name taken directly from the Latin word carmen, translated "poem, tale", mostly used for women. This was the name of the main character in George Bizet's opera Carmen (1875).

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* Some Spanish variants of this name would be Carmen (female full form), Menchu (short form), Carmenchu, Carmencita, Carmenza, Carmina and Carmita (diminutives)... In addition to other names, it's short forms vary, like Mamen, Mayka, Marica and Maruca (short forms of María del Carmen). Often is preferred the usage of Maruca instead of Marica, since the last one has been misused for so long with a pejorative meaning ("coward, fag, sissy") usually applied to men.

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It doesn't mean "song". This confusion seems to refer to the chanson de geste (Old French for "song of heroic deeds"), a medieval narrative in the form of an epic poem. Some examples would be Beowulf (Middle English), Carmina Burana (Latin), Chanson de Roland (French), El Cantar de Mío Cid (Spanish), iškar Gilgāmeš (Akkadian),...

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Please, don't confuse it neither with the (almost) homophone name Carmelo, Spanish male form taken directly from the Hebrew word כרמל (Karmel, translated as "garden, orchard").

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* Some Spanish variants of this name would be Carmelo (male full form) or Melo (male short form), Carmelito (male diminutive) or Melito (its short form), Carmela (female full form) or Mela (its short form), Carmelita (female diminutive) or Melita (its short form).

Chinese words for Carmen is (ka-men). English meaning is garden orchard!

It can also mean "charm, incantation."