The names of María and Juan lead the list of preferences, followed by Isabel, Miguel and Jesús.
As a curious fact, regarding Holy Week, the National Registry of Civil Status revealed how many Colombians have been registered with biblical names to date. Leading the list are María with 4,349,030 records and Juan with 1,430,989, followed by Isabel (573,204), Miguel (509,831), Jesús (488,358), Gabriel (214,210), Mateo (42,957) and Abel (34,507).
On the other hand, Miguel is the male name most used as a compound name, with 484,505 records, followed by Jesus with 467,636, Peter with 264,026 and Pablo with 257,858.
The most used feminine compound names in Colombia are: Isabel with 538,592, Sara with 57,542 registrations, Raquel with 31,141 and Magdalena with 23,070 registered people.
Within this list are unusual names such as Lazarus (4,614), Adam (4,066), Jonah (2,076), Zacharias (836) and Aaron (143).
The national director of civil registration, Rodrigo Pérez Monroy, explained that the definition of the name of the people is voluntary or optional and, in the case of minors, it is the decision of their parents.
«We see that these names are within our Colombian costumbrismo. Costumbrismo that to a large extent is close to the religious feeling. In this sense, moms and dads find attractiveness in biblical names to register their sons or daughters. For example, with names like María, Juan, Pedro, Jonás, among others,” she pointed out.