What Is Your Name in Spanish? Ask and Answer It Right

How to say what is your name in Spanish

The most common way to ask what is your name in Spanish is ¿Cómo te llamas? It is the phrase you will hear on the street, in classrooms, and among friends, and it is the one to learn first. Word for word it does not translate as "what is your name" at all. It literally means "how do you call yourself," because the verb llamarse means "to call oneself." Spanish frames a name as something you call yourself rather than something you simply have, and once you see that, the rest of the grammar falls into place.

Notice the shape of it. Cómo means "how," te is a small reflexive word meaning "yourself," and llamas is the verb "you call." So ¿Cómo te llamas? is "how do you call yourself," which everyone understands as "what is your name." The inverted question mark at the start, ¿, and the accent on Cómo are both required in written Spanish, so it is worth training your eye to expect them from the very beginning.

If you only ever memorize one line from this whole guide, make it this one. ¿Cómo te llamas? Say it out loud a few times right now: KOH-moh teh YAH-mahs. The double L in llamas sounds like an English "y" in most of the Spanish-speaking world, so llamas comes out as "YAH-mahs," not "LAH-mahs." Getting that sound right makes you instantly clearer, and you can dig deeper into these sounds in our guide on Spanish pronunciation.

There is a second version you must know just as well, because you cannot always use the informal one. When you are talking to a stranger, an older person, a customer, or anyone you want to treat with respect, you switch to ¿Cómo se llama? That single change, from te to se, moves the whole question from casual to polite. The next section is entirely about that split, because getting it right is one of the clearest signals that you actually understand Spanish rather than just reciting it.

Formal vs informal: te llamas vs se llama

Spanish has two words for "you," and choosing between them is not optional. There is tú, the informal you, for people you are close to or equal with, and there is usted, the formal you, for people you want to show respect or distance to. The name question changes shape depending on which one you mean, so the exact same idea comes out two different ways.

With the informal tú, you ask ¿Cómo te llamas? The little word te belongs to the informal you. With the formal usted, you ask ¿Cómo se llama? or, spelled out for full clarity, ¿Cómo se llama usted? Here the word se belongs to the formal you, and the verb shifts from llamas to llama. Same question, two registers, and native speakers hear the difference immediately.

So when do you use each one? A simple rule covers most situations:

• Use ¿Cómo te llamas? (informal) with friends, classmates, children, family, people your own age, and anyone who has invited you to be casual.
• Use ¿Cómo se llama? (formal) with strangers, older people, customers, your boss, officials, shopkeepers, and anyone in a professional or respectful setting.

When you are genuinely unsure, lean formal. Using ¿Cómo se llama? with someone who would have accepted the informal version costs you nothing, because it simply reads as polite. Using ¿Cómo te llamas? with someone who expected respect can read as too familiar, even a little rude. Erring toward usted is the safe default, and as you get comfortable you will feel when a conversation relaxes into tú.

One regional note worth knowing. In much of Latin America, especially in classrooms and among young people, the informal ¿Cómo te llamas? is extremely common and the default among peers. In parts of Colombia and some other regions, people use usted far more widely, even between friends. In Spain the informal tú is used freely in casual settings. You do not need to master every regional habit to get started, you just need to know both forms exist so you recognize them when you hear them.

¿Cuál es tu nombre? and other ways to ask

The llamarse forms are the everyday favorites, but they are not the only way to ask. A more literal option is ¿Cuál es tu nombre?, which maps almost exactly onto English: cuál is "what" or "which," es is "is," and tu nombre is "your name." So it reads as "what is your name" in a direct, word-for-word way that beginners often find comforting.

You might expect this to use qué for "what," but Spanish uses cuál here. The reason is that cuál is used when you are selecting from a set of possibilities, and since there are countless possible names, Spanish treats naming as a choice among many. Asking ¿Qué es tu nombre? sounds wrong to native ears, as if you were asking for the definition of the word "name." Stick with ¿Cuál es tu nombre? and you are safe.

This form also has a formal version. With usted you say ¿Cuál es su nombre?, swapping tu (your, informal) for su (your, formal). You will see ¿Cuál es su nombre? constantly on official forms, in customer service, on the phone, and anywhere someone needs to record your name politely. It is slightly more formal and more literal than ¿Cómo se llama?, which makes it a natural fit for writing and business.

A few more ways the question shows up, so you recognize them in the wild:

• ¿Cómo te llamas tú? The extra tú at the end adds emphasis, often when turning the question back to someone: "and you, what is your name?"
• ¿Y tú? or ¿Y usted? After you give your own name, this short "and you?" bounces the question back without repeating the whole thing.
• ¿Su nombre, por favor? Literally "your name, please," a clipped, polite form you hear from receptionists and clerks.
• Dime tu nombre. "Tell me your name," a friendly command, common with children or in warm, casual settings.

You do not need to produce all of these on day one. Master ¿Cómo te llamas? and ¿Cómo se llama? first, keep ¿Cuál es tu nombre? in your back pocket, and let the rest become familiar through listening. For more of these building-block questions, our guide to Spanish question words shows how cómo, cuál, qué, and the rest work across all kinds of questions.

How to answer: me llamo, mi nombre es, soy

Now the other half of the exchange. When someone asks your name, you have three natural ways to answer, and all three are correct. Knowing all of them means you understand any reply you hear, and you get to pick the one that fits the moment.

Me llamo (the most common)

The everyday answer is Me llamo followed by your name. Me llamo Ana means "I call myself Ana," and it is the mirror of ¿Cómo te llamas? Since the question was built on llamarse, answering with the same verb feels completely natural, which is why this is what you will hear most. It works in every setting, formal or informal, because the verb me llamo ("I call myself") does not change based on who you are talking to. Say Me llamo Carlos, Me llamo Sofía, whatever your name is, and you are done.

Mi nombre es (slightly more formal)

You can also answer with Mi nombre es plus your name. Mi nombre es Ana means "my name is Ana," a direct match for ¿Cuál es tu nombre? It sounds a touch more formal and deliberate than Me llamo, which makes it a good fit for introductions in business, on the phone, or when you want to state your name clearly and precisely. It is never wrong, it just carries a slightly more buttoned-up tone.

Soy (the simplest)

The shortest answer is Soy plus your name. Soy Ana means "I am Ana." It is quick, friendly, and extremely common in casual introductions, especially when you are one of several people introducing yourselves in turn. Because soy comes from ser, "to be," it also lets you tack on more about yourself: Soy Ana, soy de México, "I am Ana, I am from Mexico." That flexibility makes it a favorite in relaxed settings.

All three are interchangeable enough that no one will blink whichever you choose. If you want a single default, go with Me llamo. To sound a little more formal, use Mi nombre es. To keep it short and warm, use Soy. And once you have given your name, bounce the question back with ¿Y tú? (informal) or ¿Y usted? (formal), which keeps the conversation moving without any effort. You can see these answers woven into longer exchanges in our guide to Spanish conversation.

Asking a child their name

With children, Spanish always uses the informal form, no matter how polite you are being otherwise. You would never address a small child with usted in normal life, so the question is simply ¿Cómo te llamas? That is the whole rule: children get the informal tú from everyone, including strangers.

You can warm it up with a friendly tag word. To a little boy you might say ¿Cómo te llamas, pequeño?, "what is your name, little one," and to a little girl ¿Cómo te llamas, pequeña? The ending changes from -o to -a to match a boy or a girl, which is a pattern you will meet everywhere in Spanish. Other gentle options include ¿Y tú cómo te llamas?, "and what is your name," or the soft command Dime tu nombre, "tell me your name."

There is a second situation worth covering: asking about a child rather than asking the child directly. If you are talking to a parent and want to know their kid's name, you use the third-person form, which happens to look like the formal one. For a boy you ask ¿Cómo se llama el niño?, "what is the child's name," and for a girl ¿Cómo se llama la niña? Here se llama means "he or she calls himself," and the answer comes back as Se llama Diego, "his name is Diego," or Se llama Lucía, "her name is Lucía."

That third-person se llama is genuinely useful beyond children. It is how you talk about anyone's name: ¿Cómo se llama tu amigo?, "what is your friend's name," answered with Se llama Pablo. Learning to ask about a child naturally teaches you to ask about everyone, which is why this small section quietly unlocks a lot of everyday conversation.

A full introduction dialogue

Individual phrases are useful, but a real meeting strings them together, so here is a complete informal introduction from start to finish. Read it out loud, both parts, and you will feel how the pieces connect.

That short exchange contains almost everything a first meeting needs: a greeting, the question, an answer, the question bounced back, a second answer, and a nice-to-meet-you with its reply. Swap in your own name and you can run this dialogue with a real person today.

Now the same meeting in a formal setting, say a receptionist greeting a visitor. Watch how te becomes se and tú becomes usted, while the name answers stay exactly the same.

Same skeleton, different register. If you can run both of these smoothly, you can introduce yourself to almost anyone. To build the greetings around them, our guide to Spanish greetings covers hola, buenos días, buenas tardes, and the rest that open these conversations.

Nice to meet you: mucho gusto and encantado

Right after two people trade names, Spanish reaches for a "nice to meet you," and there are a few standard ways to say it. The most common and the safest is Mucho gusto, which literally means "much pleasure" and works in every setting, formal or informal, from a business meeting to a party. If you learn one, learn this one.

You can also say Encantado or Encantada, meaning "delighted" to meet you. This one changes with your own gender: a man says Encantado, a woman says Encantada. It is a touch warmer and a little more formal than Mucho gusto, and it is very common in Spain. A slightly fuller version is Encantado de conocerte (informal) or Encantado de conocerlo (formal), "delighted to meet you," but the single word is perfectly complete on its own.

When someone says nice to meet you to you first, you need a reply. The easiest is Igualmente, "likewise," which returns the sentiment cleanly. You can also answer Mucho gusto right back, or El gusto es mío, "the pleasure is mine," which is a warm, slightly gallant response. Any of the three works, and Igualmente is the one you can lean on every time.

Put together, a natural close to any introduction is one person saying Mucho gusto and the other answering Igualmente. Practice that pair until it is automatic, because it lands at the end of nearly every first meeting you will ever have in Spanish.

Worked examples and mini dialogues

Let us run through a few short scenarios so you can see the pieces snap together in different real situations. Each one uses phrases from the sections above, and you can read both sides aloud to feel the rhythm.

Two students meeting

Checking in at a hotel

Meeting a friend's child

Asking about someone who is not there

Notice how the same handful of building blocks, the question, the three answers, the nice-to-meet-you, and the third-person se llama, recombine to handle wildly different situations. That is the whole point. You are not memorizing dozens of scripts, you are learning a small set of pieces that you rearrange on the fly. If you want a broader on-ramp into these first conversations, our guide for Spanish for beginners gathers the essentials in one place.

Quick reference table

Here is everything from this guide in one place, so you can scan it, screenshot it, and come back to it. Keep it handy until the phrases are automatic.

Common mistakes to avoid

These phrases are simple, which is exactly why small errors slip in and stick. Here are the ones learners make most, and how to sidestep each.

1. Using tú forms with everyone. Asking a stranger or an elder ¿Cómo te llamas? can read as too familiar. When in doubt, use the formal ¿Cómo se llama? It is always safe and polite.
2. Saying ¿Qué es tu nombre? This sounds wrong to native speakers because Spanish uses cuál, not qué, for a name. Always say ¿Cuál es tu nombre?
3. Pronouncing the double L like an English L. In me llamo and te llamas, the ll sounds like a "y" in most regions, so it is "me YAH-moh," not "me LAH-moh." The wrong sound is one of the clearest giveaways of a beginner.
4. Dropping the accents and inverted question marks. In writing, ¿Cómo te llamas? needs both the opening ¿ and the accent on Cómo. Leaving them out is a real spelling mistake, not a small one.
5. Forgetting to match gender in encantado. A man says Encantado, a woman says Encantada. This one agrees with your own gender, not the other person's.
6. Confusing Me llamo with Mi nombre. It is Me llamo Ana (a verb) or Mi nombre es Ana (a noun). Mixing them into Me llamo es Ana or Mi llamo Ana is a common slip. Pick one pattern and keep it whole.

None of these are hard to fix, and catching them early saves you from cementing habits you would have to unlearn later. Say the phrases out loud, keep the accents in your writing, and lean formal when you are unsure, and you will sound careful and natural from your very first introduction. For the bigger picture of speaking confidently, our guide on how to speak Spanish puts these first phrases in the context of the whole journey.

How SPAIKING helps you practice introductions

You can memorize every phrase on this page and still freeze the first time a real person asks ¿Cómo te llamas? Knowing a phrase and being able to say it, on the spot, while your heart is racing, are two different skills, and only one of them comes from reading. The gap between them is exactly what SPAIKING is built to close.

SPAIKING gives you an AI speaking partner that talks back. You can run the whole introduction out loud, over and over, with zero fear of being judged: it asks your name, you answer with Me llamo, you ask back with ¿Y tú?, and you close with Mucho gusto. Because the AI actually responds, you get the two-way pressure of a real conversation, an answer you have to hear and reply to, which a flashcard or a table can never give you.

Here is how it fits what you just learned:

• It is always available. Rehearse your introduction at any hour, as many times as you like, until ¿Cómo te llamas? and Me llamo come out without a pause.
• It corrects your pronunciation. That tricky ll sound in llamo, the accent stress on Cómo, the crisp vowels: SPAIKING tells you what your own ear forgives, so you fix it early.
• It is judgment-free. Fumble the formal and informal ten times and the conversation just keeps going, which is what finally gets nervous learners to speak instead of hiding in more reading.
• It builds from a real exchange. Instead of drilling words in isolation, you practice the actual back-and-forth of meeting someone, which is what you will really do.

Learning what is your name in Spanish is the perfect first thing to say out loud, because you will use it in the very first seconds of every conversation you ever have in the language. Get it into your mouth, not just your notes, and you walk into that first meeting ready. You can start on the pricing page and turn these phrases into a real spoken introduction today.