The extraordinary devotion of the Catholics, especially in this
country, to the Virgin Mary, and the notion, supported by the clergy,
that as many Saints as have their names given to a child at baptism,
are, in some degree, engaged to take it under their protection,
occasion a national peculiarity not unworthy of remark. In the first
place few have less than half a dozen names entered in the parish
register, a list of which is given to the priest that he may read
them out in the act of christening the child. It would be difficult
indeed, under these circumstances, for most people to know exactly
their own names, especially if, like myself, they have been favoured
with _eleven_. The custom of the country, however, allows every
individual to forget all but the first in the list. In our devotion
to the Virgin, we have hitherto avoided the strange solecism of the
French _Monsieur Marie_, though almost every Spaniard has _Maria_ for
a second name.
The titles given to the innumerable images of the Virgin Mary, which
supply the usual names of our females, might occasion the most
ludicrous puns or misnomers, if habit had not diverted the mind from
their real meaning. No names are more common than _Encarnacion_,
Incarnation--_Concepcion_, Conception--_Visitacion_,
Visitation--_Maravillas_, Marvels--_Regla_, Rule--_Dolores_,
Pains--_Agustias_, Anguishes--_Soledad_, Solitude--_Natividad_,
Nativity, &c. Other titles of the Virgin afford, however, more agreeable
associations. Such are _Estrella_, Star--_Aurora_--_Amparo_,
Protection--_Esperanza_, Hope--_Salud_, Health--_Pastora_,
Shepherdess--_Rocio_, Dew, &c. But words, as it is said of the
chameleon, take the colour of the objects to which they are attached;
and I have known _Pains_ and _Solitudes_ among our Andalusians, who,
had they been more numerous, might have produced a revolution in the
significations of the language.