Names in Translation

One of my favorite little fascinations is how personal names function in foreign language environments. For example, when I go into a Spanish-speaking situation, I usually become Carlos, but not always. Sometimes I am Char-les. Indeed, a lady once vehemently assured me that Carlos and Charles were two different names, and I once met a native Spanish speaker called Char-les. Generally, though it seems that English speakers get their names translated when they go into a Spanish-speaking ministerial situation. However, it doesn't usually work the other way. Juans and Isabels do not become Johns and Elizabeths, much less Jacks and Bettys. When a name gets translated from a minority language into a dominant one, it is usually for the sake of some sort of clarity. I know an Italian priest named Andrea, but since his name is a homograph for a usually feminine name in English, he goes by Father Andrew.

There are little liturgical questions too. Here in Boston our archbishop is His Eminence Seán Patrick O'Malley. (He ordained me priest, by the way, photo here.) I'm almost completely ignorant of Irish, so I don't know what the accent means, or what it's called, but he insists on it. Now when he is named during the Eucharist Prayer at a Mass in Spanish, I usually hear his name translated, and have done so myself: con el Papa Benedicto, con nuestro Obispo Juan. But this doesn't happen in English: with Benedict our pope, and Seán our bishop. Irish names have entered into the ordinary use of English, I suppose. Of course in Latin here in Boston one says, cum famulo tuo Papa nostro Benedicto et Antistite nostro Ioanne.