text: why is it customary for many latinos to be named jesus but english speaking non-latinos rarely, if ever,-? would name someone jesus.  in spanish jesus is spelled: jesús and is pronounced:" hey-zeus " its also common to have a first name maria which is mary mother of jesus. even for guys in spain they are called maria jose which is for both man and woman (in spain again). in mexico its a reverence to jesus. mexico is mainly all catholic and people are very faithful (well the majority inmexico). it is an honor to have the name of jesus.  joseph or peter are apostles not jesus, the son of god and the christ.  its a very good question. i think the answer lays in the upbringing as catholics. the popes in the vatican which is catholics  main leader for the church and the one that is directly inspired and chosen by god all the way to lead all of god's children, their original names are not used but choose a name after an apostle. thus john paul ii. whose name from his native poland is not that, it is karol woytila. and he was a great human being who not only brought down the berlin wall down and united millions around the world. he did much good for humanity and set an excellent example of forgiveness and compassion for our fellow humankind. he forgave and actually went to see in jail his turkish would be assasin, the one who almost killed him. the turkish guy was so moved by his hollyness that he converted to christianity and asked john paul ii for his forgivness. when john paul ii died, the turkish man that almost killed him asked to be given permission to go to his burial and did go to his burial.  what a way to forgive someone who almost kill you. dont you think?  the power of forgivness and love that karol woytila had ws not a coincidence he got to be a pope and spread the gospel as he did, from countyr to country, the one and only pope who hs visited more than 30 countries in the world to tell humans love, forgive, beleive in god that is the god of all humanity. not just the god of israel , or my  god he said, butyour god.  names in cultures deep in faith to god choose a name not for fun, but for this reason. reverence to god and christ.  hey zeus is not qauiet the actual pronunciation in spanish. but i cant spell it here the way it s said. more like hezoos (he as in the word "hermit" getting rid of the rmit just "he") if you say hey its pronounced with an american accent.  to be named jesus means a lot to latinos and spaniards.  antoher misconception, latinos are from latin america that means from mexico and south all the way to patagonia. spaniards are people from spain. and we are not latinos. but spanish speakers yes, though the language is very different even if commonly people think its spanish. spanish in all different countries is all not the same language. words change meanings cchange and waht may have some meaning in mexico, in spain it has a complete different meaning.   it may also be that in spanish we have closer link to latin based language. where the word jesus is pronounced not as in the usa that stands apart form the pronunciation of its orignal language of the old . aramaic. (i dont knwo if i spelled aramaic right). aramaic is the language jesus christ spoke.