From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diego is a Spanish name that derives from the Hebrew name Jacob via the Spanish name "Santiago" ("Sant Yago"), first used to denote Saint James the Great, the brother of John the Apostle.

Variants of the name include Santiago, Sandiego, and their "saint-less" versions Tiago, Thiago and Diego. Today, Diego and Santiago are common as given names, while Santiago and Sandiego are found as surnames. Tiago, Thiago, Diago and Diogo are seen mostly in Portuguese-speaking countries.

The patronymic for Diego is Díaz (used for example by Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid). As with most Spanish patronymics, it has become a common Spanish surname.

The name Diego is popular in the Spanish speaking world and also in Southern Italy, as are other Spanish names such as Fernando, due to the Spanish influence from the days of the Kingdom of Naples.

Some well known bearers of the name Diego include:

• Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez better known as Velázquez, Spanish painter
• Diego Rivera — Mexican painter and muralist
• Diego Maradona — Argentine football legend
• Diego Colón son of Christopher Columbus
• Diego Canchola — Spanish long-distance runner
• Diego García — Spanish long-distance runner
• Diego Simeone — Argentine football player and manage
• Diego Fuser — Italian football player
• Diego Forlán— Uruguayan football player
• Diego Ribas da Cunha — football player for Brazil and Werder Bremen
• Diego Sánchez — Winner of Ultimate Fighter Season 1 reality series Welter Weight division
• Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin — Mexican saint
• Diego de Montemayor — Spanish-born founder of Monterrey, Mexico
• Diego González — Mexican telenovelas actor and pop singer.
• Diego — the hero of the animated series Go, Diego, Go! and the cousin of Dora in Dora the Explorer

In medieval Iberia, several documents shed light on the transformation of Sant Yago into Diego. For example:

"Et ueno M. Thome, maordomo del bispo, al día del plazo de Sant Yago & aduxo los alcaldes sobredichos..." (Anonymous, "Documento de avenencia", Castile, ca. 1230)

"Rogamos asant clemente en cuyo día nasçiemos & asant illifonso cuyo nombre abemos. & asant tiago que es nuestro sennor & nuestro padron" (Fuero de Burgos, ca. 1290)

"Título de vna fazannia Don del tiempo del Rey don alfonso el vyeio. Nunno el buenno & don diago gonçalez su hermano..." (Fuero de Burgos, ca. 1290)

It is speculated that the pseudo-Latin name Didacus ("learned person"), that would become Didaco in Spanish, was created in retrospect, after the name Diego gained wide currency in Spain. Actually, there are no mentions of Spanish people name Didacus during the Middle Ages other than "culturized" Latin names, in the vein of similar constructs such as Ludovicus for Ludwig (Luis in modern Spanish). Even so, some have insisted on deriving Diego from Didacus; for example, nineteenth-century Spanish author Benito Pérez Galdós has a passage in his "National Episodes Series 4" (Narváez) that reads:

Su nombre es Didaco o Yago, aunque vulgarmente lo llaman Diego. (His name is Didaco or Yago, but he is commonly called Diego.)

• San Diego (disambiguation)
• San Diego, California
• Diego (footballer) disambiguation of various football player