Rosalía, a name that will hardly become fashionable

BarcelonaRosalía is a name of Latin origin that the singer from Sant Esteve Sesrovires has popularized, but it's practically nonexistent in the census. It's not a name that families today choose when naming their daughters. We've gone from around 600 women with the name Rosalía (with and without the accent) in the 1950s to fewer than ten today. The average age of Rosalías in Spain is 61.5 years, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Zamora, Salamanca, Almería, and Ourense are the provinces where we find the most. Because it's such an uncommon name, "any fluctuation attracts attention, such as the concentration of several Rosalías in the municipality of Capçanes, in the Priorat region. Could they be from the same family?" wonders Francesc Calafell, a researcher at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology CSIC-UPF, who adds that it's also a name that is sometimes spelled Italia (Italy).

The distribution of the name in Catalonia, where it was only used eight times between 2020 and 2023, points to a higher prevalence in the inland regions than in the Barcelona metropolitan area. "It sounds like a Castilian name, but not necessarily, although there is a difference in the accent mark." Aside from Priorat, where 2.02 per thousand women are named Rosalia, making it the second most common name, the region with the highest frequency is Lluçanès (2.46 per thousand), while Ripollès comes in third (1.48 per thousand).

Despite the popularity of the singer Rosalía, Calafell believes it's unlikely the name will become fashionable like others such as Leo. "She's too well-known; once someone achieves a certain level of fame, people no longer choose that name for their son or daughter because it's too obvious. And this can be a deterrent for families who might consider it," argues this researcher. Furthermore, it's long, and short names are currently in vogue, "although there's also a reaction against this trend towards more classic names adapted to modern times, like Lola instead of Dolors," says Calafell. There are also families who wish to preserve their grandmothers' names. "Rosalia has a sister named Pilar, and it makes me think that perhaps this is a family that's keeping their grandmothers' names. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that two sisters of this age have names that are, in a manner of speaking, outdated," observes Francesc Calafell.