What are their names? I need help with this.

Question

I suppose there are two ways to ask this just like there are two ways to ask someone their name."what is your name'" vs. "what do you call yourself'".
So i'm just going to take a guess.
What are thier names?
que son sus nombres
como se llaman
I guess it's better to take a guess first if you don't know, right?
Thanks.

Answer 1

I suppose there are two ways to ask this just like there are two ways to ask someone their name."what is your name'" vs. "what do you call yourself'".

¿Cómo te llamas? is not really "What do you call yourself'"; you don't have a verb like "llamarse" in English, so it cannot be translated literally. "¿Qué nombre tienes'" or "¿Cómo te llamas'" are the same thing. Look at this:

Este monte se llama Gurugú.

How would you translate this? This montain calls itself Gurugú? Smart mountain! The proper translation is "This mountain's name is Gurugú". Another one:

Me llamo xxxxxx, pero me llamo a mí mismo Lazarus
I call myself xxxxxx, but I call myself Lazarus'''''?

A better translation: My name is xxxxxx, but I call myself Lazarus.

¿Qué son sus nombres

English doesn't differentiate between "¿Cuál es...'" and "¿Qué es...'" in some cases, and this is one of them. Look at the answers:

¿Qué es tu nombre? The word give to me at the Birth Registration Office (ie. defintion of "nombre")
¿Qué es tu nombre? Lazarus.

Answer 2

I suppose there are two ways to ask this just like there are two ways to ask someone their name."what is your name'" vs. "what do you call yourself'".

So i'm just going to take a guess.

What are thier names?

¿Cuáles **son sus nombres'**

¿Cómo se llaman'

I guess it's better to take a guess first if you don't know, right?

Thanks.