Significance of the surname "Jacob" in either Corvo or Flores?

[Jason Fraga]

Does anyone know anything about this surname?  In my line, it first shows up in 1767 with the Corvo birth of my 4XG Grandfather, Jose de Fraga Jacob.  It does not show up in any of the three generations before him that we know of, although Fraga certainly does.  He passes it on to his son (my 3XG Grandfather) Antonio Jose de Fraga Jacob, who is born on Corvo in 1807. 

 

From there, it seems like a coin flip- some of Antonio Jose's kids get the "de Fraga Jacob" name, and some just get the straight "de Fraga" name.  My 2XG Grandfather Braz Jacinto de Fraga did not get it.   I'm interested in Jacob for two reasons:  as always, I'd love to determine if living relatives are out there, and I'd also like to know where it comes from and why.  

 

Useless info: my Great Grandfather got "Jacob" for a middle name, and nobody in my family understood the significance of the name until I started doing family research 3 years ago, as we didn't know any of these guys ever existed.  Our knowledge stopped at my Great Grandfather, and we never even knew which island he was from.  My nephew who was born 10 years ago also got "Jacob" for a middle name in a nod to my Great Grandfather.  I think it's neat that the name carried on into the modern day even if we had no idea that it really had some family significance way back. 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Jay Fraga

Massachusetts

 

 

[John Vasconcelos]

Jason,
I would be willing to bet that if you could trace your Fraga line back far enough, you would  eventually come to a "Jacob de Fraga". On Flores (and by extention on Corvo since there is a lot of intermarriage between the two islands) there have been several instances of using what is normally a first name as a "surname".

 I can cite a specific example from the book "Familias ds Ihla das Flores" by Francisco Antonio Nunes Pimentel Gomes. In one family he traces, a Nicolau de Fraga married to Maria Furtada has a son Manuel Francisco Nicolau, who in turn has a son Francisco Antonio de Fraga, who in turn has a son Manuel Francisco Nicolau. I could cite several other examples.  In some cases the "new surname" sticks.  In other cases it alternates by generation or unpredictably.

In my own family tree, I have a  3GGFAntonio de Freitas Eduardo (m 1782) from Fajazinha Flores whose father was Eduardo de Freitas.  In present day Fajazinha there is an Eduardo family who I'm sure I'm related to. In that case, the Eduardo name "stuck".

As to "why?" In the case of my "Freitas Eduardos", Freitas is a very common Portuguese surname. I would bet that my ancestor wasn't the only "Antonio Freitas" living in Fajazinha at the time. So my theory is that when there were several people with the same name, the custom developed to distinguish between them by their father's first name. Just my theory.

By the way, there area a lot of Fraga families on Corvo so my theory  would seem to fit there.

John Vasconcelos

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[Jason Fraga]

That certainly would make a heck of a lot of sense.  I’ll have to see if I can push my line past the early 1600’s to see if it pans out.

 

Thank you for the detailed explanation and the examples!

 

Jay Fraga

 

 

 

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[eric edgar]

In the parish records for Santa Cruz das Flores there are records for families of  de Freitas Jacob. I've seen a Joao, Joao Jose and Pedro jose listed as parents. I haven't seen this in the

marriage records of Flores and Corvo book

 

 

Eric Edgar