MAIATO surname

[pi...@dholmes.com]

I don't know about you, but I get used to the names in each village and sort of want them to be the same now as they were 100+ years ago. So when I visited places on my trips to the Azores, I felt a little more alien than I thought I would. If I had seen all the same names I got used to seeing in the old records, I think I would have felt right at home more.

I think of this because I have a picture of a tombstone from Pico of a lady named MAIATO.

I never heard of this name and perhaps feel a little out of touch since it's a name on Pico that I know so well.

But I know it only from 100 years ago and not the present time.

I also found one Maiato on Terceira, but the rest seem to be from Sao Miguel. Maybe someone on this list will recognize this surname. I thought I detected a little Oriental look and figured maybe it's a Chinese family that settled on Pico and then made their name sound more Portuguese.

Of course, modern mobility accounts for this transformation in the populations for each village and island.

It would not be so surprising to find German and Swedish people settling in the Azores these days, having children who are baptized as Catholics, etc. After all, many notable foreign families did this in the past few centuries, like DART, DABNEY, STREET, STONE, ZERBONE, etc. And then there are many others who came but left little mark.

And now there is MAIATO. I wonder about their origins. It's a relatively rare name in Portuguese these days. Everyone I see in Ancestry.com seems to have Portuguese origins. Is it an alcunha?

Doug da Rocha Holmes
Sacramento, California
Pico & Terceira Genealogist
916-550-1618

www.dholmes.com

[Richard Francis Pimentel]

Hi Doug,

 

This is one I came across on Sao Miguel.

 

Rick

 

Richard Francis Pimentel

Spring, TX

Formerly of Epping, New Hampshire

 

Researching, Riberia Grande, Riberinha, Achada Grande,  Bretanha, and Ponta Delgada,  Sao Miguel, Acores

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[pi...@dholmes.com]

Thanks, Richard.

Very interesting. Is this a family you have traced back, by chance?

Doug da Rocha Holmes
Sacramento, California
Pico & Terceira Genealogist
916-550-1618

www.dholmes.com

[Margaret Vicente]

Hey there Doug,

Maiato is not an alcunha.  It is a surname and I have close friends who bear that name from Sao Miguel Island.  

Regards

Margaret

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[Richard Francis Pimentel]

I have not traced this family back. I have the birth record of Jose but it is not a good copy I can make out his mother Charabina de Jesus is from Senor Bom Jesus. His father is from another parish. His grandfather went only by the name do Rego. His father on the baptismal record is also written as do Rego.

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[Richard Francis Pimentel]

Maiato is listed as a surname by James Guill and it gives a Derivation as Malato. Could that refer or mean mixed race? If so then the name could have started as an alcunha.

 

Rick

 

Richard Francis Pimentel

Spring, TX

Formerly of Epping, New Hampshire

 

Researching, Riberia Grande, Riberinha, Achada Grande,  Bretanha, and Ponta Delgada,  Sao Miguel, Acores

 

[pi...@dholmes.com]

I forgot to look at Guill's list. My copy is buried somewhere in a box I have not brought back into daylight since moving. But that's very interesting. But the other name, Malato, is then what must be questioned. Yea, it sure sounds similar to "mulato" and that would surely be an alcunha imposed by others, not so willingly adopted for use, I wouldn't think. Malato has a Latin ring to it - maybe some Italian origin.

I have ancestors from Pico named MAIA. And some ancestors from Terceira named MAIO. And I see a noble family MAIA who is described as "Vedor do Rei João I, 1º senhor da Trofa" that seems to have descendants in Terceira. Maybe there is some linguistic explanation for how Maia could become Maiato. But that neglects the Malato derivation information from Guill.

Thanks to the others who mention ancestors and friends with this name.

It is far more common than I suspected - just not on Pico or Terceira!

Doug da Rocha Holmes
Sacramento, California
Pico & Terceira Genealogist
916-550-1618

www.dholmes.com

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] MAIATO surname
From: "Richard Francis Pimentel" <Rfrancis...@Comcast.net>

[mances]

Hi Doug,

Maiato is someone who was born in Maia, on the Douro region located in the north of Portugal. It´s a toponymic surname.

Manoel

[pi...@dholmes.com]

Great to know, Manoel.

Then "da Maia" and "Maiato" mean the same thing and could be used interchangeably by the same person.

Obrigado!

Doug da Rocha Holmes
Sacramento, California
Pico & Terceira Genealogist
916-550-1618

www.dholmes.com

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[Richard Francis Pimentel]

In re-looking the birth record for Jose do Rego Maiato this morning; his father (Manuel do Rego) is from Estrela in Ribeira Grande.

 

Rick

 

Richard Francis Pimentel

Spring, TX

Formerly of Epping, New Hampshire

 

Researching, Riberia Grande, Riberinha, Achada Grande,  Bretanha, and Ponta Delgada,  Sao Miguel, Acores

 

[mances]

Not necessarily. In medieval times, before c. 1450, N. da Maia indicates that the person was a landlord, had the 'senhorio' of the place. Maiato does refer only to the person who was born there.

Manoel

[Margaret Vicente]

Hi,

There's no correlation in between the  words maiato and mulato.  A further search in google turned up a referential work by the the Minho University.   The name is described as an alcunha/nick toponymic of or from the place of MAIA.

"Maiato MF Proveniente da Maia"

Link: 

http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/6934/1/Alcunh.pdf

Reference:

Citação deste texto publicado: 

Teixeira, José, 2007, “Metonímias e metáforas no processo de referência por alcunhas do 

Norte de Portugal”, Diacrítica Série Ciências da Linguagem, nº 21/1, Universidade do 

Minho, Braga, pp. 207-239. 

Metonímias e metáforas 

no processo de referência por alcunhas do Norte de Portugal 

José Teixeira 

ILCH - Universidade do Minho 

jstei...@ilch.uminho.pt 

Abstract 

The Portuguese word “alcunha” means a non-voluntary nickname, sometimes with 

pejorative meaning and usually used in small localities. The main purpose of this kind of 

nicknames is to capture a detail that makes possible a quick identification, in other words, to 

stress a salient characteristic conducting to an easy referring process. 

In this way, the nickname’s social-linguistic strategy can show us the relevance of 

metaphor and, above all, of metonymy as cognitive processes with a great variation of 

linguistic strategies and forms.  

Margaret

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Margaret M Vicente

[pi...@dholmes.com]

Hi Margaret,

That's the best definition of an alcunha I've seen.

My grandfather from Terceira was said to have the alcunha "cebola branca" (white onion) referring to his blonde hair. And I believe his father had the same alcunha. But I have never seen it mentioned in any records, so it's strictly passed down by word of mouth.

Thanks,

[Joao S. Lopes]

"maiato" is a gentilic that means a person born in Maia, Portugal. Sometimes it's just a nickname, but many nicknames turned into surnames. In Agualva Terceira there's a surname Engres/Ingres/Ingles, that means "English", that began probably as a nick for an English settler.

Joao S. Lopes

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De: Richard Francis Pimentel <Rfrancis...@Comcast.net>
Para: azo...@googlegroups.com
Enviadas: Sexta-feira, 7 de Junho de 2013 21:12
Assunto: RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] MAIATO surname

[Margaret Vicente]

Hi Doug,

Yes, it seems many nicks may have not been capturered or dropped if seen as pejorative.  With families of certain status it would have been kept from mouth to mouth.

Where I was raised everyone had a nick...lucky for me our family name was so unusual they didn't need a qualifier ;)

Cheers,

Margaret

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Margaret M Vicente