Speaking of Translators

A couple of you asked about the translation device I mentioned in my last post.  I can't fully explain how it works but here's what I've been able to piece together from the following scraps of information:

Clue #1:  One of the few agreed upon names for this piece of geography is "Terra Santa".  My newfound language skills allow me to say with confidence that this means "Land of Santa" (no relation).  I was understandably confused by this until...

Clue #2:  I was given brief access to the translator (pictured to the right).  When I first received this magical device I slipped on the headphones, pointed the hand-held portion at Amny and said, "Say something".  She replied, "That's not how it works." Ha! If that's not how it works, then how could I understand her perfectly?  She claims to have been speaking English and sitting right next to me.  I pushed her for another reasonable explanation.  She explained that there was a person sitting in a booth that would take whatever was spoken into the microphone, translate it, then relay it to the headphones.  Likely story.

Conclusions:  Using my powerful skills of deduction (which are only slightly less powerful than my skills at translation) I reasoned the following:  Though Amny never referred to the mysterious booth person as "Santa" (no relation), I realized that the cultures in this part of world must have a mythical figure similar to our Mr. Claus.  Just like we attribute the appearance of presents under a tree to Mr. Claus, they attribute the delivery of English words through the translator to Santa (no relation).  Is the shared name a really big coincidence? or proof that there are commonalities among all cultures?