why are so many Dominicans named "Wilson?"

2020

2020

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Just being curious, I've noted that "Wilson" seems to be a popular name for a boy in the Dominican Republic.

Why is that since it's not a Spanish name for a boy?

In the past, I've looked at my phone contact list and have a lengthy list of Wilson's.

Our caretaker welcomed his new baby boy recently.

Guess the name?

"Wilson"
 
CristoRey

CristoRey

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Wilson
Jose
Luis
Jon Carlo
McGill
Orlando
and Juan...
Oh and lets not forget Jonny, Jason and Joel
Did I miss anyone 😅
 
M

Manuel01

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Apr 1, 2009
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2020 said:
Just being curious, I've noted that "Wilson" seems to be a popular name for a boy in the Dominican Republic.

Why is that since it's not a Spanish name for a boy?

In the past, I've looked at my phone contact list and have a lengthy list of Wilson's.

Our caretaker welcomed his new baby boy recently.

Guess the name?

"Wilson"
Click to expand...
They watched to often the movie "Cast Away".
 
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NALs

NALs

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2020 said:
Why is that since it's not a Spanish name for a boy?
Click to expand...
Not all popular Dominican names are in Spanish. It also isn’t all from US influence since the DR has a history of receiving immigration from the British Caribbean way before the USA was a popular place to migarte to and they had mostly English names too.

The same could be said of Dominicanos last names. Most are Spanish, but most doesn’t mean all.
 
NALs

NALs

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keepcoming said:
teamgroupnames.com

400+ Dominican Boy Names for Your Little Prince (With Meanings!)

Looking for Dominican boy names? From traditional to modern favorites, find beautiful options with meanings to help name your little one!
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Some of the names in those lists I think actually became popular during the Trujillo years. Such as:

Bienvenido/a - A family member of Trujillo was named like that.​
​
Arismendy - I think someone Trujillo was named like that too.​
​
Porfirio - Everyone knew who was Porfirio Rubirosa who was once married to someone related to Trujillo, could had been one of his daughters.​

Toussaint isn’t African at all. That is all French, most likely influence from Haiti for obvious reasons.

Michael, once met one from Cutupú. I didn’t know it was Michael since everyone called him me-cha-elle. One day I saw it in writing. That was the moment I gave up the idea it was a unique name.

There is also the TV personality Michael Miguel.
 
M4kintosh

M4kintosh

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May 23, 2023
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NALs said:
Not all popular Dominican names are in Spanish. It also isn’t all from US influence since the DR has a history of receiving immigration from the British Caribbean way before the USA was a popular place to migarte to and they had mostly English names too.

The same could be said of Dominicanos last names. Most are Spanish, but most doesn’t mean all.
Click to expand...
It's a cocolo influence.

A good portion of Dominicans, their ancestors (especially on the sugar cane provinces were descendant of Americans, British and from the islands (Puerto Rico, Jamaica, St Kitts)

Last names like James, Commarazamy, Williams, Rogers, also are common in those areas (La Romana, San Pedro, Samana, San Cristobal, Amina)
The current generations love to mix gringo names and latin ones, just like Venezueleans:

Jhohanny, Yeison, Narbelys, Nelly, Dysleiny, are current "normal" dominican names these days.
 
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M4kintosh

M4kintosh

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May 23, 2023
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NALs said:
Some of the names in those lists I think actually became popular during the Trujillo years. Such as:

Bienvenido/a - A family member of Trujillo was named like that.​
​
Arismendy - I think someone Trujillo was named like that too.​
​
Porfirio - Everyone knew who was Porfirio Rubirosa who was once married to someone related to Trujillo, could had been one of his daughters.​

Toussaint isn’t African at all. That is all French, most likely influence from Haiti for obvious reasons.

Michael, once met one from Cutupú. I didn’t know it was Michael since everyone called him me-cha-elle. One day I saw it in writing. That was the moment I gave up the idea it was a unique name.

There is also the TV personality Michael Miguel.
Click to expand...
Yes. During the Trujillo Era was common.

I have relatives like "Rafaela, Radhamés, Osvaldo, Flor, Floralba, Cesarina, Juan De Dios, Florinda" were heavily influenced by some of the politicians and Trujillo close relatives
 
bob saunders

bob saunders

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Melony, Jessica. Milessa and Amanda are probably the most common girls' names at our school. We have a lot of Cristopher in various spellings, but yes still lots of Jose Luis, Jose Armando.... etc.
 
AlterEgo

AlterEgo

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Fulano2 said:
We have chino, el mister, papo, el nene (6,5 foot), keka and caralarga.
Click to expand...

I wouldn’t even try to spell the names of our campo neighbors, but I’d bet about 90% of them aren’t their legal/given names.

Mr AE’s family is pretty traditional. The 5 brothers are Luis, Leonardo, Jose, Cesar and Jorge. Most of them named first son for themselves. First daughter for their wives. We followed Italian tradition, our children are named for their grandparents.

Grandchildren of his brothers are Valentina, Jasmine (2), Alonzo, Kylie, Chloe, Nicolas, Raymond, Rodrigo, Jorge, Luis, Michael, Gregory, Jacob, Christian, Jose, so all over the place but nothing weird.

As others have said is that the spelling can be eye opening. B vs V is a whole other discussion 😊
 
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