Now THAT sounds to me like the best working hypothesis we have so far. True, it wouldn’t explain why Muslims generally don’t have this taboo, but I don’t think we need to worry about that too much. Looking globally, I’d wager it’s the taboo that’s the exception, not the rule. Think of all the South Asians named Krishna, etc.
So, that would be a topic for another thread… How did “Jesus” come to be a taboo personal name? (later removed as taboo in Spain when that region was dominated by Muslims). If the Greek “Christos” was never taboo, that could help us figure out the taboo’s origins.
But that’s a matter for a different thread. We still need to confirm, if we can, the working hypothesis answering to THIS thread.
Obviously, English-speaking people once did occasionally name their boychildren “Jesus” but every time they were introduced people said “gesundheit” so the practice waned.
Also quite a few Santos, Rosario, and crucifijo. Never see algo names such saints, rosary or crucifix…well, maybe a rosary here and there. Of course, you also never see anyone in english named July.
In Spain chucho usually means mangy dog, too, yet I know Chuchos, Chuchas and even a Chuchín (only called so by his mother, his classmates already found it overly precious when we were in kindergarten).
Never met a Crucifijo (I don’t mean they don’t exist, just that I personally haven’t met any - obligatory disclaimer after someone jumped on me for a similar phrasing), although Cruz is very typical of my region both by itself and in multi-word names.
I have a question for people from other spanish speaking countries. Is Jesus actually that common? I’ve only met one Jesus in my life (although plenty of women called Maria Jesus) and he is from a very hardcore catholic family (mass in latin and all that).
Not very common in Argentina, though I remember during the worst part of the hyperinflation crisis in '88, '89 we briefly had a minister of economy (hard to translate that position, the US and Britain don’t seem to have an equivalent government post), named Jesús Rodriguez, resulting in the obvious jokes in the newspapers.
In Spain it’s become less common as we moved away from traditional names, but it’s still quite normal. Depending on the area you’re more likely to find other versions of the name: in Catalonia you’ll meet a lot more guys called Manel than Jesús, in Madrid there are a ton of Manueles (usually called Manolo) and you get the occasional person who names her child Joshua and never misses an occasion to give anybody who asks “what’s his name?” an explanation on the origins of the name; the other frequent(ish) reason for a Joshua is conversion of a Jesús or Manuel to Islam. There’s Salvador called Salva (very common in Valencia), there’s all those girls named Leyre (usually by parents who don’t realize that’s Salvadora de Leyre and not María de Leyre, as the patron of the Monastery of Leyre is Our Saviour and not Our Lady like for every other monastery in Navarre), there’s many people who are surprised to be told that their Emma is a Manuela.
I’ve surprised people by pointing out that the “pretty Italian name with absolutely no relationship to any Catholic saint” they had picked actually happens to be the name of a very popular saint, so running into others who have no idea who’s the patron of a monastery isn’t exactly a shock (the Italian name in question - Chiara; no, caro, no relationship to no saint).
It’s probably more common in Spanish than in other languages, but really, Jesús in Puerto Rico is a common uncommon name. And somehow, from the people I know of other countries, that is very much the case. It is a common uncommon name, but since it is probably more common in Spanish than in other languages, people are more likely to identify it and notice it (selection bias).
Chucha means the same in Panama as in Peru, but (usually) means body odor in Colombia (the source of some hilarity when Colombians inadvertently use it here). On the other hand, Concha is pretty much OK in Panama, usually just meaning a seashell.
Chuleta! is a common euphemistic exclamation in Panama, like Ajo! for “carajo” and Miercoles! for “mierda.”
