So what's with all these Brazilian football (soccer) players with only one name?

[Chainsaw Mage]

So I'm flipping through the World Cup of Soccer 2006 glossy magazine the other day and reading the info on each team. I'm not a big soccer fan, but I was intrigued by the magazine and read about each team with interest.

Then I come to Brazil, and half the players on the team only have one name. And I remember Pele, who was, like, world-famous (I even had a "Pele Soccer" game on my Atari 2600 back in the early 80's ), and I remember "Babeto" and "Ronaldo" (forgive me if I've messed their names up) from a few World Cups back (1994 USA, perhaps? ). It occurs to me that I've wondered about this for many years, the one-name-in-Brazil thing. Reading the magazine yesterday just reminded me.

So what gives? Brazilians only have one name or something?

 

[kenobi65]

They have more than one name. It's just common for Brazilian soccer players to be known by only a single name...sort of like certain American pop stars.

Pele, for example, has a birth name of Edson Arantes do Nascimento. Ronaldo (a.k.a. Ronaldinho), one of Brazil's current stars, is actually Ronaldo Luiz Nazario da Lima.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

From what I understand, at one time, it was considered to be beneath a certain social level to actually play soccer professionally. Enjoying a match was fine, but being a pro was not acceptible if you were from the upper middle class or above.

Thus, players from the upper social strata would adopt a single name- like an author's pseudonym, or an actor or musician's stage name- to be called as a player.

Over the years, that practice became just part of the culture of the game, regardless of status.

 

[glass]

As I understand it, Brazillian footballers generally prefect their skills playing in the streets before they start playing seriously, and the good one start to get a reputation, and get assigned a nick-name by the other kids.

Pele, for example, is certiainly a nick-name; his real name is Edson Arrantes de Nassiamento (although I may have miss-spelled that).


glass.

 

[Balgus]

As I understand it, Brazillian footballers generally prefect their skills playing in the streets before they start playing seriously, and the good one start to get a reputation, and get assigned a nick-name by the other kids.

Pele, for example, is certiainly a nick-name; his real name is Edson Arrantes de Nassiamento (although I may have miss-spelled that).


glass.

Pelee is a nickname, which I believe is the name of Some God.

Further research only shows that it is a Hawaiian Goddess of Volcanoes. The legend goes taht any person who visits her volcanoes and removes any rock and take it back to the mainland will fall sick and cursed with bad luck until the rock is returned.

I can only imagine that they are comparing his skills to that of a volcanoe god and the rock is the soccer ball. And if you touch his rock, you will suffer.

 

[jonesy]

...which I believe is the name of Some God.

Sure, and some say it comes from the portuguese word for courtyard, or his God gave it to him (that's what he claimed in an interview), or some kids gave it to him in childhood because it sounded funny, or...

The Net is full of theories on it. It's just a nickname.

 

[Klaus]

Thing is, when you're even remotely intimate with someone here in Brazil, you address that person by the first name. Even if you're not intimate with someone here, you rarely call someone by Mr. (surname), but rather by Mr. (name) (Mr. here being the informal word "Seu" (men, comes from "Sir") or "Dona" (women, portuguese for "Lady")).

When it comes to footballers, they're already called by their first names (or a nickname) from the time they were in children's teams. Ronaldo (from Real Madrid), for instance, was always known as Ronaldinho (Little Ronaldo), because he was a skinny kid.

And when Ronaldinho (from Barcelona) came to prominence, he was nicknamed Ronaldinho Gaucho (gaucho being the term for someone born in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil), to differentiate him from the other Ronaldinho.

Now that Ronaldo has gained muscle mass, he's being called Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho Gaucho is slowly dropping the "Gaucho" from his nickname.

The foreign press has the habit of giving honorifics to the best players, and these slowly get incorporated as well. Ronaldo is known as the Fenomeno (phenomenon), while Adriano (from Internazionale) is called Imperador (emperor).

So it's just a cultural tradition to infer a level of intimacy with the footballers. Kaká (from Milan), for instance, is short for Ricardo.

As for the two main attackers in 1994, they were Bebeto (short for Roberto) and Romário.

As for Pelé, it's just a nickname from when he was a kid playing "peladas" ("nakeds", the term for informal football matches in a neighboorhood field) in the small town of Três Corações ('three hearts'... no 'three lions', though... ). The press has awarded Pelé the honorifics of The Best Football Player in History, and The King of Soccer, back when he scored his 1000th goal. Pelé is regarded as the best footballer ever, with the too-often-forgotten Mané Garrincha (the angel with crooked legs) in 2nd and that midget Maradona in 3rd (argentinians have the nerve of listing Maradona on top, though... ). There is a quite decent documentary about Pelé's life, it was released in 2004, iirc, and is titled "Pelé Eterno". Football fans should hunt that down.