Hi,
So I have lived in Spain now for almost 10 years and I will be applying for citizenship soon. As part of this process I can pretty much chose my Spanish name. Or I can keep my polish name.
The problem is that my name is very polish, like Grzegorz Filipowski. Every time someone has to write it down and look me up in a database I have to show them my ID. When it happens over the phone I have to spell it. Every time I meet someone they ask me what’s my name is and then repeatedly try to pronounce it while I say ‘yeah… close enough’. It’s pretty annoying and it would be solved by simply changing my name to something Spanish like Gregorio González or something.
What do you think? Would you see it as a practical thing to do or as a stupid intent at impersonating a real Spaniard?
Nice to meet you, Gregório Felipe. 👍
Seems reasonable to change your first name to make your life more convenient, but unless people encounter these names, they’ll never used to saying them.
In the UK it takes knowledge to know how to pronounce Irish names but one you’ve met a few Siobhans and Eoins you get used to it.
There is an element of historical oppression here though. Some people choose to use an Irish spelling because, well, the English keep trying to erase other cultures. That example didn’t work out as well as I thought it would.
Oh, they will never get used to saying those names because they are just not able to make polish sounds. In polish there’s a lot of weird sounds like ‘szcz’ (shsh) or thinks like ‘prz’, ‘zsz’, ‘dżdż’ that foreigners just can’t reproduce. My name is like that. And even if they learn to kind of almost say it they are never able to write it. People at work always make mistakes when writing my name.
Yeah that name makes sense. Is that surname to combine with the name? because it doesn’t resemble your Polish surname. I think “Gregory Filipo” would be closest to your Polish one
I can’t come up with another example in polish but my surname could be translated to Spanish equivalent, same as first name. It’s like if you’re George White and change it to Gregorio Blanco.
That’s a personal decision. You could list the pros and cons and then take a decission.
I think you can use Gregorio for your daily life (probably you already do that) and sometimes, when you have to do a legal operation, be patient as until now.
I’m a 100% Spanish person and I have the same difficulties as you! Mi name and surname are Basque (a language spoken in Spain, but different to Castilian Spanish; there are millions of Spanish people with Catalan names too + all the people from Europe, etc.).
Every time I have to spell my name or my surname (or both), I do it. And personally I have no intention to change them. My name and my language, as my family and my history, are important parts of my identity, and I’m proud of them. I’d recomend you to do the same, here in Spain and in any other place of the world. Also to speak Polish to your childs if you ever have any.
But as I said before, it’s a personal decision and if the legal stuff you have to do sometimes are a real problem for you, change your name. Just be sure that you will not regret later for giving up a part of your identity.