Sidebar #39 - What’s in a Name? Diminutives, Nicknames, and Titles

Naming conventions are important in Tico society. How someone refers to a family member, friend, or colleague can be a significant indicator of their relationship. When there is a close relationship between people, diminutives are often used to demonstrate affection or friendliness. Most commonly, this is done by adding an -ito or -ita suffix to a name or noun, depending on the gender. For example, my name would likely become Brendito in this case. It’s also pretty common to just drop the end of the name entirely. For me, this could be “Bren”, meanwhile a person named something like “Francisco” or “Fernanda” may become “Fran” or “Fer”, respectively. I hear diminutives like this on a daily basis here.

Another particularly ubiquitous development when it comes to naming is nicknames. In the US, it’s perceived as problematic sometimes to describe someone based on physical characteristics, but that’s not the case in Costa Rica. It would not be uncommon for someone to be referred to in regards to something like their weight or skin color, and it wouldn’t be taken as offensive. Even for me, as an American who eats a lot, I’m regularly referred to as “gringo” (American) or gordito (fat), despite being pretty skinny in nature. 

Finally, titles and formal names are a little different here as well. In terms of last names, or apellidos, a person always has two last names: one taken from the father and one from the mother. That’s pretty standard in Latin American cultures but is certainly the case in Costa Rica as well. 

Where Costa Rica diverges a little bit linguistically from some of its Latin American counterparts is in titles. Rather than calling someone “Señor” or “Señora” like most American students learn in Spanish class, most Costa Ricans use “Don” and “Doña” as a title of respect and professionalism. There are some other quirks unique to the school environment. Many elementary school teachers are referred to as “Niña” (girl) despite being grown adults, meanwhile it wouldn’t be strange to hear a teacher call a younger, elementary-age student “Papi” (daddy). I’m not sure how these trends emerged, but they are interesting to hear as someone non-native to Costa Rica who learned a different style of Spanish.