José María

José María
GenderMale
Other names
Nickname(s)Chema, Txema
Related namesJoseph, Maria

José María (abbreviated José Mª) is a Spanish language male given name, usually considered a single given name rather than two names, and is a combination of the Spanish names of Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus Christ.[1] The separate names "José" for males and "María" for females also exist in the Spanish language. They can also combine in the inverse order forming the female name "María José" (Mª José); that is, the gender of the compound names "José María" and "María José" is determined by their first component. The name "José María" is colloquially shortened to "José Mari", "Josema" or replaced by the hypocoristic forms "Chema", "Chemari" or "Chemis".

There are also combinations of other male given names with María, for example Carlos María, Juan María and Luis María.

"José María", with its Portuguese language equivalent José Maria (notice the absence of the acute accent over the i in the Portuguese version) is a common name, and many famous people have the name or a similar one.

Spanish names

Portuguese names

See also

References

  1. ^ Rafael Falcón, Christine Yoder Falcón - Salsa: A Taste of Hispanic Culture Page 32 1998 "... though Maria, when used for a male, is usually in the format of a middle name: Jose Maria or Jesus Maria, for example."