ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Latinisation of names

Okay kiddo, so when someone has a name that's really hard to say in another language, like if you're speaking English but the name is from a different country, sometimes people change the name a little bit so it's easier to say.

One way they do this is by using a process called "latinisation". That means they take the original name and change some of the letters to make it look more like a name in Latin or English.

For example, let's say someone named Miguel moves to a country where most people speak English. But sometimes when he introduces himself, people have trouble saying his name right because they might not be used to pronouncing it like that. So Miguel might decide to latinise his name and spell it "Michael" instead. That way, more people would be able to say it correctly.

But it's important to remember that this is just a way to make things easier, and it doesn't change who someone really is or where they come from. So even if someone changes the spelling of their name to make it more "English" or "Latin", they're still the same person they always were.