Name Etymologies: 2025 MotoGP wildcard, test and substitute riders
part one (2025 full-time riders) here.
Notes: ordered by number. my process usually uses a lot of sources in lots of different languages that i try and deduce the likliest meanings from, so i'm sorry for not citing things. the part one post has more notes/links about some sources. if any of these are from your languages/cultures and i've made a mistake or you know more detail, please let me know!
04. andrea dovizioso - ANDREA: italian. from ancient greek name andréas derived from andreios ["manly, courageous"] (ultimately from aner ["man"]). - DOVIZIOSO: italian. from adjective dovizioso ["rich, wealthy"], ultimately from dovizia ["abundance, wealth"], from latin divitia, from dives ["rich, favoured by the gods, blessed"].
6. stefan bradl - STEFAN: german (among others). germanic and slavic variant of latin name stephanus, from ancient greek stéphanos ["crown, that which encircles"] (ultimately from ancient greek stépho ["i encircle"]). - BRADL: german (specifically bavarian dialect). probably from bavarian bratl/bradl, dialectal diminutive of noun braten ["(a) roast"; a roasted or oven-baked piece/joint of meat].
26. daniel pedrosa i ramal - DANIEL: spanish (among others). via ancient greek from hebrew daniyél ["god is my judge"]. - PEDROSA: spanish and portuguese. toponymic from spanish/portuguese pedroso/a ["rocky, stony"], from latin petrosus (from petra ["stone, rock"] + adjectival suffix -osus). *possibly from the catalan pedrosa, a colloquial name for both the plant burnt candytuft (aethionema saxatile) and the herb valerian, likely also both derived from the spanish pedroso (in the sense of a hardy plant that deals well with rocky soil) - RAMAL: catalan. likely toponymic from catalan/spanish ramal ["halter, branch (of e.g. a road, mountain range)"]
30. takaaki nakagami (中上 貴晶; "nakagami takaaki") - NAKAGAMI: japanese. formed of 中 (naka; japanese kun reading of the chinese character zhōng ["middle, the inside of things"]) and 上 (kami; japanese kun reading of the chinese shàng ["above, upper, top"]) - TAKAAKI: japanese. formed of 貴 (taka; japanese nanori reading of the chinese guì ["precious, valuable"] and 晶 (aki; japanese nanori reading of the chinese jing ["clear, crystal"])
these characters (kanji) can have multiple different pronunciations (readings) and therefore represent multiple different words/meanings. kun readings are based on meaning rather than the chinese pronunciation; nanori readings are particular, non-standard pronunciations of the kanji and are usually only used for names
32. lorenzo savadori - LORENZO: italian and spanish. from latin name laurentius, from laurus ["laurel tree, laurels" (as in the crown of laurels given to victors)], either attributive, e.g. "one who wears a laurel wreath", or habitational via laurentum, an ancient town (whose name likely also comes from laurus) that stood in modern-day lazio. - SAVADORI: italian. likely mistaken/variant spelling of salvadori, a northern italian regional variant of salvatori, a patronymic form of the given name salvatore ["rescuer, saviour"], from latin salvātor ["saviour, one who saves/keeps from injury"], derivation of salvus ["safe, preserved, unhurt/healthy"]. likely adopted as a name (or given to foundlings) in honour of the title given to jesus.
35. cal crutchlow - CAL: english. short form of calvin (he was supposedly named after calvin "cal" rayborn); as a surname, a francisation (french-ification) of the latin family name calvinus, itself either an attributive from latin calvus ["hairless, bald"] or from a latinisation of picard and occitan/francitan name cauvin, from chauve [also "bald"]. - CRUTCHLOW: english. variant of critchlow/crichlow; likely toponymic from a place in england, e.g. croichlow fold in lancashire. ultimately likely either from middle english croch/crucche ["crutch, staff"] + lea/ley ["meadow, pasture"] or old english cros ["cross"] + leah ["woodland clearing"]. the second element "low" could be also from or have been confused with (i.e. in recording the name) the common english place name element -lowe, from old english hlāw ["hill, mound"].
37. augusto fernández guerra - AUGUSTO: spanish, italian and portuguese. from latin augustus, a title meaning "majestic, venerable". - FERNÁNDEZ: spanish. patronymic meaning "son of fernando". fernando is the spanish variant of ferdinand, itself coming from gothic. the original name probably had proto-germanic elements meaning "peace" (or "journey") and "daring". - GUERRA: spanish, italian, catalan and portuguese. from the germanic werra ["fight, hostility"], probably via latin guerra, ["war"]. as a surname, probably either occupational (e.g. a soldier), a nickname meaning "warlike, belligerent", or a clipping of a place name containing guerra/guera.
41. aleix espargaró i villà - ALEIX: catalan. from latin alexius (not alexander!), from ancient greek aléxios/álexis ["defender, helper"]. - ESPARGARÓ: catalan. possibly related to esparreguera ["asparagus"; also a toponym from a town near barcelona (x, x)], or some other derivation from the verb espargir ["to scatter/spread"]. - VILLÀ: catalan. likely from an older form of catalan vila/vilà ["town"/"town-dweller"] (the double l, possibly pronounced differently to the double l in modern catalan, which is not the same as the single l, remains in older names for places beginning with vila). alternatively from spanish (castillian) villa ["town, country house"] *catalan vilà can also mean "villain" or "rude, discourteous"
44. pol espargaró i villà - POL: catalan. variant of pau, from latin name paulus [originally meaning "little, small"]. - ESPARGARÓ: catalan. possibly from espargir ["to scatter/spread"] (see aleix's section). - VILLÀ: catalan. likely "town"/"town-dweller" (see aleix's section).
51. michele pirro - MICHELE: italian. variant of latin michael, from hebrew mikha'el ["who is like god?" (not denoting someone who is godlike but asking the rhetorical question with the presumed answer of 'no one')]. - PIRRO: italian. clipped patronymic from the male given name (i.e. di Pirro ["son of Pirro"], with the di ["of"] dropped), from the latin name of the greek ruler Pyrrhus, from greek pŭrrhós ["flame-coloured, yellowish red" or by extension "red-haired"].
87. remy gardner - REMY: french. variant of rémi. from a 6th century catholic saint from picardy, then part of roman gaul. the name is possibly a shortening of latin name remedius, from remedium ["remedy"] but he was more often referred to as remigius, a latin name from rēmex ["oarsman, rower"]. - GARDNER: english. variant of gardener; occupational name from garden (via anglo-norman from frankish gardin/gardo ["fence, enclosure, yard"]).
*it's unclear whether the original remi's name was - or was derived from - remedius or remigius, or whether these names were a subsequent latinisation of an older gaulish name of unknown origin. he supposedly signed his name - on latin documents - as both remedius and "remegius". it's so long ago that it's all a bit of a muddle. some people also claim that his name (and successively "remigius") came from the name of the rēmi (pronounced like reemi) tribe who lived in the area of reims, but this is probably unlikely.
94. jonas folger - JONAS: german, swedish, and dutch. from the greek name (ionas) of the biblical prophet jonah, from hebrew yoná ["dove" (or "pigeon" - hebrew does not make the distinction)]. - FOLGER: german. "follower"; agent noun of folgen ["to follow, to comply"]. probably originally used as a name of someone who hunts/tracks (i.e. "follows") animals. *possibly instead a variant of old high german folk/folc/volk ["people, folk, warband"] with lenition (weakening) of k > g, used as a patronymic of either the short form of various germanic given names beginning with the element (e.g. volkmar, from volk + māri ["famous"]), or of folker/volker ["people's army, people's fighter"], from volk + heri ["army, warrior"]
