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Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Ze Roberto, Ze Maria, Elber, Juninho, Romario... Probably no one, watching the games of these and other most famous Brazilian football players, did not think what their names hide? And they hide really interesting things.
They all have a certain encrypted meaning, and all of them can be divided into 4 main categories:
1. Prefixes and suffixes
These are some of the simplest names that make references to human origin:
Prefixes:
Ev - Evanilson, Evandro, Evair (meaning that mother's name is Eva)
Ed - Edmilson, Edmar (mother's name - Edna)
Od - Odair, Odvan (mother's name - Odette)
Ro - Romario, Rosinei (mother's name - Rosa)
El - Elber, Elano (mother's name - Elba)
Suffixes:
Size suffixes
They are very important. If we replace Ronaldo with Ronaldinho, he will become Big Ron. For example, Ronaldinho means Little Ron.
-ão Felipão (Big Phil), Betão (Big Bob - 'Beto' is a short form of Roberto).
-inho Juninho (Little Junior).
Other suffixes:
The -son suffix shows origin from Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian regions (Jobson, Gerson). The -aldo suffix (Rivaldo, Vivaldo, Reinaldo) indicates that the father's name was Valdo/Waldo. There are other suffixes that show allusions to the player's origin - -andro, -ey, -ei, -air, and others.
2. Regions
Such names are also quite popular. They are given to players to distinguish them from other players, indicating their place of origin. For example, Carioca shows that the player comes from Rio de Janeiro, e.g., the well-known Brazilian footballer Marcelinho Carioca.
The suffix Paulista indicates that the player is from San Paulo, e.g., Juninho Paulista from "Celtic".
Mineiro - the player is from the Minas Gerais region.
Gaucho - the player is from Rio Grande do Sul, like Ronaldinho Gaucho from "Barcos".
Pernambucano - the player is from Pernambuco, like Juninho Pernambucano from "Lyon".
Cearense - the player is from Ceara, like Dudu Cearense from Moscow's "CSKA".
3. Nicknames and abbreviations
These can be very often seen on players' jerseys, they are written instead of real names and surnames, often players are called this way.
Kaka/Caca - abbreviation of Carlos or Caio, Deco - abbreviation of Andre.
T(h)iago - abbreviation of Santiago (Spaniards use "Santi" here, for example, Santi Canizares).
Ze - Jose abbreviation, e.g., Ze Maria from "Inter" or Ze Roberto from "Bayern".
Mane - Manuelio (Manoel) abbreviation.
Dudu, Didi, Dede, Dada, Dodo. Dudu=Eduardo, Dede=Andre (like Deco), Dada (Daniel), Didi (Dirceau), Dodo (Doriva).
Guga - Gustavo abbreviation.
Juca - João Carlos or Joaquim abbreviation.
4. Various rare
Many Brazilian names are influenced by Anglo-Saxonism and Americans who fled to Brazil during the Civil War (most of these names start with the letter "W").
Many names are religious (Jesus, Santos, Gabriel, Gideon), some of them are influenced by Greek-Roman culture (Julio Cesar, Marcus Aurelius).
Influence of the animal world
Some Brazilian names mean certain animals. Falcão means "falcon" or "hawk". And Claudio Pitbullis plays for "PSG".
In the past, the Brazilian player Mane Garrincha, who famously had one shorter leg, was called "singing bird".
