Childhood

Shakira was born to a Colombian mother of Catalan descent, Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, and an American-born father of Lebanese Catholic descent, William Mebarak Chadid, in Barranquilla, Colombia, where she says she grew up among the Lebanese, Jewish and Italian communities. Her father was born in New York, when his family migrated from Lebanon, but he soon migrated to Colombia. Shakira, which means "grateful" in Arabic (شاكرة), is named after her paternal grandmother.