Spanish names that start with ‘R’ include choices for boys like Rodrigo, Ronaldo, and Ricardo, alongside options for girls which include Rosalía, Rita, and Raquel.
A large group of Spanish girl names that start with ‘R’ derives from “rosa,” the Latin word for the rose flower. Names in this group include Rosa, Rosalía, Rosalina, Rosalva, Rosalba, Rosario, Rosaura, and Rosita.
Rosa corresponds to the English name Rose. But the form Rosa is also used in the U.S. A famous example is Rosa Parks, widely known for her role in the civil rights movement.
Rosita is a name that arose as a diminutive form of the name Rosa. In Spanish-speaking countries, Rosita may often be a more widely used name than Rosa.
Rosalía is a Spanish name that corresponds to the English name Rosalie.
Rosalba is a name that is often interpreted as meaning “white rose.” It combines the names Rosa and Alba (In Spanish, “alba” is a poetic term that means “white”; the more common adjective is “blanca,” or “blanco” in the masculine form).
In Spanish, the word “alba” also means “dawn.” So the name Rosalba could be interpreted as meaning “rose of dawn.”
Rosalva is likely a variant of the name Rosalba; it has a similar pronunciation because, in Spanish, the letter ‘v’ is pronounced the same as the letter ‘b,’ a phenomenon that linguists call betacism.
In Spanish, female names often end in ‘a’ while male names frequently end in ‘o’. The female name Rosario is an exception to this pattern. It arose as a shortened form of “María del Rosario.” The Spanish word “rosario” translates to “rosary,” a term that refers to prayer beads and rose gardens.
Rosaura is a name that may have arisen as a combination of the Latin word “rosa” and the Latin adjective “aurea,” the feminine form of “aureus” (which means “golden”). In that case, the name Rosaura would mean “golden rose.” Note that in Latin, the word “aura” means “air” or “breeze.”
A character named Rosaura appears in the play titled “Life Is a Dream” by 17th-century Spanish author Pedro Calderón de la Barca.
Rita is a name that arose as a shortened form of Margarita, the Spanish form of Margaret, which comes from an Ancient Greek word meaning “pearl.”
Rocío is another exception to the pattern of Spanish female names often ending in ‘a’ while their male counterparts frequently end in ‘o.’ Rocío is a female name that is a shortened form of “María del Rocío” (The Spanish word “rocío” means “dew”)
It may not be immediately apparent that the Spanish name Raquel corresponds to Rachel in English. The Spanish version of this name has the letter combination ‘qu’ instead of the ‘ch’ in the English version. A similar pattern occurs in some Spanish vocabulary words, like “máquina” (machine), “química” (chemistry), and “esquema” (scheme).
Remedios is a shortened form of “María de los Remedios” (the Spanish word “remedios” means “remedies”)
Spanish is a Romance language that evolved from Latin, so it might seem surprising that many Spanish male names that start with ‘R’ originate from Germanic languages.
Examples of these include Ronaldo (the Spanish version of Ronald), Roberto, Ricardo (the Spanish version of Richard), Rodrigo, and Reinaldo, among others.
Despite their Germanic origins, these names have spelling features (such as the ending in ‘o’) that make them easily recognizable as Spanish names (or Italian, because some of these names are the same in Spanish and Italian).
Some Spanish names that begin with ‘R’ do come from Latin. Examples of these include Román, Renato, and Rómulo. And some come from Hebrew, for example, Rafael and Rubén.
One of the reasons why so many Spanish male names that start with ‘R’ come from Germanic languages is that ancient Germanic words for “fame” and “counsel” begin with the ‘r’ sound.
In ancient times, these words were frequently used to form Germanic male names, which resulted in plenty of Germanic names that start with this letter.