Brazil: Why Do Famous Brazilians Only Go by One Name or Nickname?

People are usually known by their first name or nickname with their surname, such as Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, and Joe Biden. However, things are a bit different in Brazil, as famous people tend to only go by just one name.

The name Edson Arantes do Nascimento may not ring much, but this name belongs to one of the most important soccer players in history. Edson Arantes do Nascimento is the real name of probably the greatest football player of all time, Pele.

According to Business Insider, this has become a very common practice in Brazil, especially among soccer players who often drop their complete names in favor of just their first names or nicknames. Examples include Neymar da Silva Santos Junior or just Neymar, as well as Frederico Chaves Guedes, also known as Fred.

While Fred sounds a bit mundane, other Brazilians go for cooler names like footballer Givanildo Vieira de Souza, who is better known as Hulk.

Even Brazil's new President-elect, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is in on this practice, as he is simply known to Brazil and the rest of the world as Lula. Even Gisele Bundchen, the Brazilian supermodel who recently got divorced from Tom Brady, often goes by Gisele sometimes.

Why do Famous People in Brazil Do This Practice?

Brazilians often have very long and complicated names like Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva or footballer Arthur Henrique Ramos de Oliveira Melo, who is better known as Arthur.

According to GOAL, there is no specific cultural reason for this other than the fact that Brazilians often have very long names. They adopted a "one name" policy for how they will be called to shorten their names and make it less complicated, especially for non-Portuguese speakers who might have trouble pronouncing their complete names.

Thus, we call legendary footballers by just singular names like Pele, Ronaldo, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Neymar, Alisson, Neto, and Ederson. This tradition was embraced by Brazilian football players as early as 1914. The first instance was a player only known as Formiga, which means "ant" in Portuguese.

However, the Washington Post reported that while the one-name policy has been consistent in soccer, it has yet to be consistent in politics. For example, many international media organizations still call Lula by his last name, da Silva or Lula da Silva.

Brazil's Single-Name Practice Comes From Portuguese Roots

Unlike its Spanish-speaking neighbors, Brazil was once a Portuguese colony and thus spoke Portuguese. However, the language is only one of the things that the Portuguese left behind.

There is a Portuguese tradition of using four names, and Brazil also adopted this. And the use of one name resulted from this practice because it makes it easier for children to call a person by one name rather than all four words in their names.

This practice is not only used in Brazil and Portugal but also in Angola, another former Portuguese colony.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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