why does llama mean name

Question

in asking the question "what is your name in spanish" you say "como se llama" but I looked up llama in spanish and it means amimal, Why would you not say como se nombre?

Answer 1

Llama is from the verb Llamar = to call.

So "Cómo te llamas?" means "How are you called?" or "What is your name?"

Answer 2

you could also say ¿Cuál es su nombre?, which is correct and equivalent to the English version, but it´s not the most usual way to ask someone´s name in Spanish.

By the way, a llama is a camel-like animal that lives in the Andes region.

And also llama means flame.

Como la llama que llama... - Benz, MAR 10, 2010

la llama se llama Llama :) - spanish-at-heart, ABR 25, 2011

Answer 3

The question ¿Cómo se llama? is more closely translated as "what are you called?" or "how are you called?" it comes from the reflexive spanish verb "llamarse", meaning "to be called"

The "se" at the end of llamarse makes it reflexive meaning it takes "llamar" - "to call" to "llamarse" - "to call oneself" or "to be called" in terms of name

llamo mi amigo - I call my friend (on the phone) Me llamo Pedro - I call myself (I am called) Pedro

Another way of asking someone's name is ¿Cuál es su (polite)/tu nombre? In this question, the verb used is "ser" - "to be" ¿Cuál es su nombre? and instead of using a "llamarse" to translate name, the noun "nombre" is used

You can't say "¿Cómo se nombre?" because "se llama" comes from the verb "llamarse" and "nombre" is a noun so these are not interchangeable

I hope this makes sense and answers your question

Answer 4

from Dictionary - llamar

pronomial verb 1. to be called (tener por nombre, título)

* ¿cómo te llamas? -> what's your name?
* me llamo Patricia -> my name's Patricia
* eso es lo que se llama buena suerte -> that's what you call good luck 

I know llama is a verb, but also is a noun in my case my question was if in spanish is llama what is the name in english? - Jose F1481, JUL 7, 2017

Answer 5

How does this help me for my science pro. Due Tuesday