Me llamo Lucas
Is "my name is Lucas" the same as "I am called Lucas"? I mean, are they interchangeable?
21 Answers
However, I have a question too:
Can I am called Lucas also be interpreted as , people call me Lucas but my real name is Leonardo, for example? Like I could say: I am called Heidita?
I don't think so actually, then you would say: they call me,,,,not I am called, but it might be right.
"I am called Heidi"
I understand that your name is Heidi. No problem. But (because it is not standard English) I would be slightly confused.
Hi NIla, but this answer by a native convinces me. I would not usually say: I am called...I would think that might be confusing.
I think standard is:
My name is Heidi, I am Heidi.
I am called Heidi----can mean, my name is Heidi or simply that they call me Heidi but my real name is Maria.
- Mi nombre es Lucas = My name is Lucas
- Me llamo Lucas = I call myself Lucas
- Soy Lucas = I'm Lucas
All those are interchangeable and are ways to tell your name to someone. Hope I could help. 
They are both the same in English. I am Lucas or I'm Lucas is probably better than saying I am called Lucas.
Hello, my name is Lucas,
Hello, I'm Lucas.
These would be the two best ways to say your name.
"I am called Heidi"
I understand that your name is Heidi. No problem. But (because it is not standard English) I would be slightly confused.
Is this person trying to tell me something subtle? If so, I don't really know what it is......
I'm not sure if this makes sense but I hope you get the idea.
Hello, Nila:
Well hasn't this thread of replies gotten away from your original question.
You asked - Are "My name is Lucas" and "I am called Lucas" interchangeable?
For me, I think not.
But here is something else, for me, my real name is Maurice but my nickname is Moe. Because of my nickname, I often say to people:
"My name is Maurice, but, I am called Moe." (I usually go on to explain how I got the nickname.) I think, Seitheach pointed out this use in his reply.
If I call someone on the telephone and they do not already know me, I say:
"Hi, this is, Moe Lastname " I do not say, "I call myself Moe Lastname."
If I want to order, say a couch, to be delivered to my house, the delivery agent might say, "Could I have your name, please." I would reply, "My name is Moe Lastname." I would not say "I call myself Moe Lastname"
For me the reasaon we would say or use "My name is, Moe Lastname", is that it is the way the language has grown or evolved. Both of the expressions in your original question have the same meaning. In spite of that, they are not interchangeable in everyday usage.
Best Regards,
Moe
If you say "My name is Lucas", then that is usually the name on your papers.
If you say "They call me Lucas", that might not be your name.
If you say "I call myself Lucas", it could be a name you like, but not necessarily your name.
Well, its an idiomatic expression, kind of. Me llamo means i call myself. you can leave off the yo because llamo can only describe yo. So yo me llamo. Me llamo is a reflexive verb (a verb in which the subject is whom/who the receiver is). LLamar means to call, llamase means they call themselves, or he/she calls him/herself. To conjugate it, you say yo llamome, or yo me llamo, or me llamo, meaning, i call=llamo, me=MYSELF.
Wow! - this simple question got a lot of replies.
Heidi dice:
Hi NIla, but this answer by a native convinces me. I would not usually say: I am called...I would think that might be confusing.
I think standard is:
My name is Heidi, I am Heidi.
I am called Heidi----can mean, my name is Heidi or simply that they call me Heidi but my real name is Maria.
Yes, Heidi is right here. But I would like to add a few thoughts from a Southeastern USA point of view....
In English, the general patterns to introduce your name are:
- My name is William
- I'm William
- My name's William
- I am William
The above patterns do not give any indication as to whether you are presenting a real name or a nickname.
If you wish to clearly imply that the name you are introducing is a nickname of some sort, then you usually use one of the following patterns:
- Everyone calls me Bill.
- People call me Bill.
- You can call me Bill.
- I go by Bill.
- I prefer to be called Bill
All the above patterns will imply that you have a real name that is different from Bill or whatever name you just gave. So, if you say only, "I go by Bill," people will wonder what your real name is.
If you wish to introduce your real name AND your preferred name, you would say something like: My name is William, but I go by Bill.
You can also use these patterns to go by different names in different contexts. Like, everyone at work calls me John. Or, here at SpanishDict.com, I go by webdunce.
You will also see "for short" and / or "just" in these patterns when the main point is to simplify the real name.
- My name is Timotheus, but everyone just calls me Tim.
- My name is Timotheus, but I go by Tim for short.
- My name is Timotheus, but you can just call me Tim for short.
"I am called Bill"
To me, this implies that your real name is NOT Bill. So, I would figure it to be a nickname. It also sounds slightly odd in most contexts.
"I call myself Bill"
This also implies that your real name is NOT Bill. I would take it as a nickname. However, this phrase sounds really weird except in all but the rarest contexts. Don't use this phrase.
If you see us English-speakers use this construction at SpanishDict.com, we are probably just tyring to help someone relate to the Spanish formula "Me llamo Bill," but we don't generally talk like that.
Cheers,
--webdunce
HI web and Izan, thanks a lot for your answers. Actually the dictonary Nila quoted confused me. I would not have used I am called...for a real name. However as you can see they give it as an equivalent to "my name is..."
I think the question has been answered, thanks a lot. I like: I go by...jeje, like me, I go by Heidi, wonderful!! lol
This is my take on the whole thing.
The most common ways to introduce yourself would be:
1). My name is Nila
2). I'm Nila
If you are introducing yourself by some sort of nickname or alias then you might say:
1). They call me Nila (but my real name is...)
2). I go by Nila
3). I'm Nila
I don't think that it would be very common to say "I call myself Nila." In fact, I am having trouble recalling ever having heard anyone introduce themselves in this manner. I think that this might have something to do with the fact that in Spanish, reflexive pronouns are much more commonly used in cases such as this; whereas in English, sentences are less commonly constructed using reflexive pronouns. For instance, here are a few examples of sentences in Spanish that use reflexive pronouns alongside the English equivalent:
1). Me baño - I am taking a bath
2). Me afeto - I am shaving
3). Me lavo los manos - I am washing my hands
Nowhere in the common English equivalents do you find the reflexive pronoun "myself." That is because in English, if the direct object and the subject are the same, then the direct object is usually just implied. If I say that "I shaved" then it is generally implied that I, of course, shaved myself.
Now how this relates to the original topic is this. If you were to say "I am called Nila," it begs the question, "Who calls you Nila?" To avoid this ambiguity, we usually just say "They call me Nila" or possibly even "People call me Nila." Using "call" as your verb also begs the question "why do they call you this?" (what is your real name?) The implication of these two sentences is that people/they call you this, but your real name is something different altogether. If, on the other hand, you were to say "I call myself Nila" it almost sounds like you are conceited (full of yourself) because you are naming yourself twice (unnecessarily) in the same sentence.
I think that it would be akin to the way that it is awkward the way novice Spanish speakers often include the subject pronouns when they are unnecessary. As as native Spanish speaker, think about how odd it would sound if someone were to constantly use subject pronouns as they were talking, "Yo this, yo that, yo, yo, yo...." Likely, this would sound a bit off to your ears to hear someone talk like this in Spanish, and I think that often you get the same effect by using reflexive pronouns in a sentence when the sentence could be restated without them (i.e. I call myself vs they call me).
All this being said, the most common way to state your given name would not be with the verb "call." It would be by using a form of "to be" (i.e. "I'm Nila" or "My name is Nila").
If the intention of your sentence is that "you like to call yourself Nila" then a better way to say this would be, "I go by Nila" or "I like to go by Nila." I am not sure whether this makes since to a native Spanish speaker, but basically what you are saying is, "I like to go by the name Nila/I like to call myself Nila."
I have just found this answer in the dictionary:
llamarse v pron to be called;
su padre se llama Pedro
his father is called Pedro
his father’s name is Pedro;
Me llamo Ken, mi nombre es Kenneth, todo el mundo me llama Ken y mis amigos me llaman Ken entonces me llamáis Ken.
Este tema de me llamo, me llaman ha sido muy discutido, ya que se supone que no deberíamos decir: "Me llamo", toda vez que a uno lo llaman, pero uno no se llama. Tú que opinas?
