Jul 21, 2006

How Brazilian soccer players get their names?

Have you ever wondered why Brazilian soccer players seem to have only nicknames but no formal names?. Why Ronaldinho doesn't have a last name? ......is his name really Ronaldinho? ........why sometimes we call him Ronaldinho Gaucho?. What about Ronaldo, Kaka, Dida, Cafu, Robinho, etc, etc?. This has been the story of Brazilians all the time, let's not forget about Pele, Zico, Garrincha, Tostao, Socrates, Rivelino, Gerson, Jairzinho, and the list goes on and on. It's interesting, isn't it?. If you think about it, this thing with the nicknames is not exclusive for soccer, let's take for example the name of the President: Lula. The only one with his real name that I think of is Roberto Carlos, that is his real name........did you know that?

This has to do definitely with the Portuguese culture, if you think about the Portuguese soccer players, the same thing happens with most of their names: Figo, Pauleta, Costinha, Maniche, etc

I was looking around some articles related to this matter, and found some interesting explanations. It seems that it has something to do with the Portuguese culture from many centuries ago, since times of slavery.

If you're interested in the whole explanation on this Brazilian nicknames thing, click the following link: www.slate.com/id/2143404/

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