Did you know that Latin American parents have created baby names out of English-language phrases and terms?
Here are some examples:
- Yoanidis comes from “you and this”
- Yorkeisy comes from “you are crazy”
- Yesaidu comes from “yes I do”
- Yesyuar comes from “yes you are”
- Usanavy comes from “U.S. Navy”
- Mileidi comes from “my lady”
- Madeinusa comes from “made in U.S.A.”
- Dalaionkin comes from “The Lion King”
- Britnishakira is a combination of “Britney” and “Shakira”
- Gualdisnia comes from “Walt Disney”
I found these in a News-Press article by Peruvian writer Alessia Leathers. (Unfortunately, the article — and her full list of names — is no longer online.)
No doubt names like these are spelled many different ways. I know I’ve seen several versions of “Usanavy.” For instance, in a book about Cuba (specifically, in a passage describing the influence of the United States on Cuban personal names in the mid-20th century), I spotted this sentence:
In the zones around the Guantanamo Naval Station it was not uncommon to find children named Usnavy (or Usnavito/Usnavita) after the markings of “US Navy.”
There’s also a Dominican-American character named Usnavi (pronounced oos-NAH-vee) in the musical In the Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Source: Perez, Louis A. On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
[Latest update: Jun. 2024]
