Common surnames in Portugal.

[Francisco Antonio Doria]

There is a difference between the situation in Brazil and in Poryugal. In
Portugal you'll find many nicknames (e.g. Cavaco, literally a small piece
of wood; by extension lots of things) that became family names in the
last couple of centuries. In Brazil you'll find widespread use of many
noble surnames such as Silva, Menezes, Sousa and Vasconcelos, besides
`devotional names' such as de Jesus, dos Santos, dos Anjos, and
patronymics, Fernandes, Dias, and so on.

Why the widespread use of those noble family names? According to
Portuguese usage, you could adopt any name that came to you through any
line, male or female. So you'd usually pick up the most illustrious
family name among those of your ancestors. (Even today Portuguese titles
descend through male and/or female lines.)

That's just a summary of the situation; there were a few informal rules
that more or less guided the whole process. To give an example with my
own family: family name started as Moreira in 15th century Portugal,
obscure local gentry in the north; came to Brazil as Moreira in the 16th
century; married into the Costa Doria family in the early 17th century
and adopted the name Mendonc,a (Spanish Mendoza) which came through
female lines. Then in the late 18th century they changed the family name
again to Costa Doria, which remains until today.

Chico [da Costa] Doria

>
> >Both in English and German, the most common surnames are profession
> >designations: Smith - Schmidt, Taylor - Schneider, Miller - Mueller, etc.
> >The same does not happen in the Romance languages - Portuguese, Spanish,
> >French, Italian, and possibly in the other ones. There are some profession
> >surnames, but they are not the most common ones, and not the oldest ones.
> >Does any one know the reason for this, or of some research in this area.
> >
> >Regards
> >Pedro de Brito
>
>
> I am not quite sure of the top 20, but among the most common names in
> France, you can find LEFEVRE (and spelling variants), PREVOST/LEPREVOST,
> FOURNIER, TAILLANDIER, VASSEUR/LEVASSEUR/LEVAVASSEUR, ... It maybe
> interesting to check if there is a difference between the Oc and Oil parts
> of medieval France on this.
>
> Christian Feuillet - <BIH...@cris.com>
>
>

[Francisco Antonio Doria]

>
> Chico,
> Many of the names you mention below are of Sephardic origin,
> specifically: Silva, Sousa, Fernandes, Dias, and da Costa. Some
> Sephardim took on religious names such as , Santos or dos Santos to
> throw off prying eyes. You may want to tune into www.lusaweb. com
> Scroll to genealogy then to Sephardic names.
>
> Harry
>

No, no, no, on the contrary. Silva, for instance, is an old noble family,
traceable to one Paio Guterres in the 11th century; the Sousas are one of
the oldest Portuguese families, which married into royalty in the late
13th century and gave rise to two main branches, Sousas de Arronches (now
dukes of Lafoes, dukes of Palmela) and Sousas do Prado (counts of
Linhares, of Prado, marquesses of Minas).

The thing is unclear, but it seems that converted jews adopted their
godfathers' names when baptised. In some cases (the Dias de Meneses
family, for example) they incorporated the Meneses name through female lines.

da Costa is complicated. It's simply a locative, from the coast. In my
case, with the caveat - if you believe the 18th century Brazilian lineage
books, plus some research done by Eugenio de Andreia da Cunha e Freitas,
I come from the branch that later developed into the Costas do
Armeiro-Mor. But I know of at least one Sephardic family which from start
has the name da Costa: those descended from the Algarve-born Diogo Mendes
da Costa (late 16th century).

Chico Doria