In the U.S., it’s called the Rio Grande; in Mexico, it’s Rio Bravo, or Rio Bravo del Norte. The Mexican name appears to be the older. I could understand if the river had one English and one Spanish name, but why two competing Spanish names?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “The name Río Bravo shows up for the first time on a map of 1536 compiled by a royal Spanish cartographer.” Who was the first to use the name Rio Grande, and when?
I had no idea that it had any other name than Rio Grande but now I am curious… I’ll try to look into it.
BTW, Americans consistently mispronounce the name as Rio Grand when it is Rio GRAN-deh
[[BTW, Americans consistently mispronounce the name as Rio Grand when it is Rio GRAN-deh]]
Speak for yourself; we know how to pronounce it in New Mexico. And if the water shortage keeps up, there may not BE a Rio Bravo anymore.
Jill
While I wholeheartedly agree with sailor’s pronounciation of the river between Texas and Mexico, I can say that I lived in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley for several years and never knew anyone to pronounce it that way. I have lived in Texas all of my life, and most people don’t pronounce Rio Grande in its correct, Spanish way.
Texas is full of bastardized Spanish place-names:
Refugio: pronounced Re-FUR-eeo (a town near Victoria)
Guadalupe: pronounced GWAD-a-loop (a major street in Austin)
These are just two that popped to mind. There are plenty more.
As far as calling the Rio Grande, Rio Bravo del Norte, all I can say is that no one in Texas calls it that. Only the Mexicans.
Cheer up. The town of Rio Grande, OH (home of Bob Evans Sausage), is known to the locals as RYE-uh GRAN-dee.
I don’t think it is too uncommon for the people who live on opposite sides of a river to have different names for sqaid river. Even when both peoples have a common language.
e.g. Spanish speakers in Texas call a river Rio Grande. Spanish speakers in Mexico call the same river Rio Bravo. Neither group wants to adopt the other group’s name for the river.
The same thing existed in Africa until the departure of Mobutu Sese Seko. Congo called it the Congo River; Zaire called it the Zaire River. For that matter, there’s the English Channel/la Manche to worry about too.
I’m gonna keep looking just because I cannot accept that
it’s starting to look like Lance is right.
It can’t be that simple.
But where I find it mentioned it boils down to (so far)–Mericans call it Rio Grande and Mexicans call it Rio Bravo
an it’s been that way since records were kept.