¡La Esquina de la Gramática! Rule 29

How to call “b” and “v”

The Real Academia de la Lengua (RAE) recommends that Spanish letters have only one name, so “b” should be “be” and “v” should be “uve”.

But that doesn’t mean the other names used for these two letters are incorrect.

The letter “v” has two names: “uve” (mostly used in Spain), and “ve” (mostly used in America). The name “ve” usually goes along with the adjectives “corta, chica, chiquita, pequeña or baja” so it can be differentiated from the letter “b”.

The letter “b” is called “be” among people who use the name “uve” for the letter “v”, but those who use “ve” (corta, chica, chiquita, pequeña or baja) usually use “larga, be larga, be grande or be alta” to refer to the letter “b”.

http://www.rae.es