Portuguese name
A Portuguese name, or a Lusophone name, is a personal name in the Portuguese language with typically at least one personal name: mother's family surname and father's family surname. A last surname without prepositions tends to exist in formal greetings.
General
Portuguese law establishes the need for a child to have at least one personal name and one surname from one of the parents. The law also establishes the maximum number of names allowed: up to two personal names and four surnames. Advice from the Ministério da Justiça says of this restriction that a name "may contain a maximum of six simple words or compounds, as a rule, up to two first names and four surnames"; more may be permissible in some circumstances.Usually, the maternal surnames precede the paternal ones, but the opposite is also possible. If the father is unknown, or he has not acknowledged the child, only the mother's family name is/are used. A child can receive surnames from their parents' ancestors, even if those surnames are not part of the parents' names, provided that the parents prove those names were used by their ancestors.
Number of names
It is not uncommon in Portugal that a married woman has two personal names and six surnames, two from her mother's family, two from her father's family, and the last two coming from her husband. In addition, some of these names may be made of more than one word, so that a full feminine name can have more than 12 words. For instance, the name "Maria do Carmo Mão de Ferro e Cunha de Almeida Santa Rita Santos Abreu" would not be surprising in a married woman. Mão de Ferro and Santa Rita count only as one surname each. In this case, Santos Abreu would probably have come from this woman's husband. She would be typically known as Maria do Carmo Abreu and would be typically alphasorted and collated under Abreu.In Portugal, the custom of giving a child four surnames is popular, since this way a child can have each of their parents' surnames. For instance, the Emperor Pedro I of Brazil had the full name of Pedro de Alcântara Francisco Antônio João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim de Bourbon e Bragança, and his son, the Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, had the full name of Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Habsburgo-Lorena e Bragança. For the sake of simplicity, most Portuguese people use only two surnames.
For example, if José Santos Almeida and Maria Abreu Melo had a daughter, her name could simply be Joana Melo Almeida. However, they could give her two personal names, for example Joana Gabriela, and combine their surnames in various ways, such as Joana Gabriela Melo Almeida, Joana Gabriela Abreu Melo Almeida, Joana Gabriela Abreu Santos Almeida, or even Joana Gabriela Abreu Melo Santos Almeida.
It would also be possible to use surnames that are not part of either parent's legal name, but which the parents would be entitled to use, i.e. a surname from a grandparent or a great-grandparent that was not transmitted to the father or the mother. This child would probably become known by her final surname, Joana Almeida. However, her parents could decide to change the order of surnames and name her Joana Almeida Melo, etc. In this case she would probably be known as Joana Melo.
In Portugal, having only one surname is rare, and it usually happens when both the parents have the same surname, to avoid repetitive combinations such as António Santos Santos. In Brazil, having only one surname is common in areas with large communities of non-Portuguese immigrants.
Spellings
Portuguese names have a standard spelling, since names are considered as regular nouns, and are thus subject to the orthographical rules of the Portuguese language. The spelling of many names has evolved through times and with orthography reforms; at the same time, archaic forms of names survive, though they are considered misspellings by current spelling rules. The Acordo Ortográfico, valid in Brazil and Portugal, states on Section XI : Os nomes próprios personativos, locativos e de qualquer natureza, sendo portugueses ou aportuguesados, serão sujeitos às mesmas regras estabelecidas para os nomes comuns..Brazil
In Brazil, there are no laws concerning names, and only obscene or ridiculous names are forbidden when parents register the birth of a child at the local cartório de registro civil. Many archaic spellings coexist with the orthographically correct, and even with fancy orthographies.Names of international inspiration are common, bringing with them the unusual characters "k", "w", and "y", diacritics that do not match the Brazilian pronunciation or do not exist in Portuguese, double letters that retain their foreign pronunciation or not, silent letters, and letters that are intended to sound differently from the orthographic norms. Parents can make up any type of name, and suffixes with an English or French "flavour" are often used to give foreign allure to their offspring's names, such as "-son" for boys and "-elly" for girls. This phenomenon can be easily seen in Brazilian football players' names.
Names of deceased historical figures must be spelled following the current orthographic rules: Luís de Camões, Venceslau Brás, Euclides da Cunha, Tomás António Gonzaga etc.
Portugal
In Portugal, personal names have a standard spelling that is considered the norm and the rules are enforced by law by the 'Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado'. There is a defined list of allowed names; misspelt and archaic forms, and names containing foreign letters – k, y, w – are usually not allowed. However, older people who were registered with archaic forms have continued to use them. Regarding surnames, there are no legal restrictions, and as such many people continue to use archaic spellings of family names, as in Athayde or Telles.The preposition ''de''
The preposition de and its grammatical forms are used in Portuguese surnames, such as in Maria da Cunha, José das Neves, Joana do Rosário, Luís dos Santos, Gabriela de Sousa. The last means "from" or "of", while the others mean "from the" or "of the". The current convention in Portuguese is that they be written in lower case. These are part of a composite name, e.g., "Sousa" is different from "de Sousa," but both are ordered under 'S' in an alphabetical list. Luiz Pereira da Silva is referred to as Mr. Silva, not Mr. da Silva. The conjunction e is also common, e.g. "Maria Costa e Silva". Most commonly this would be a composite surname.The best-known exception to this norm is former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, who is frequently referred to as President Dos Santos, even among Portuguese-speaking people and in Portuguese-language media. Likewise, the Anglophone media often ignores this rule when referring to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as Mr. Da Silva, instead of Mr. Silva.
The name 'Maria'
The personal name Maria is extremely common as a feminine personal name and even combined with masculine names. Since the turn of the 21st century, a new wave of traditional personal names has resulted in an increase in its popularity. In 2014, it was the most common girl's name in Portugal, more than twice the second-rated Matilde.Surnames and marriage
The custom of a woman adopting her husband's surname was not originally a Portuguese or Brazilian tradition. It spread in the late 19th century in the upper classes, under French influence. After the 1940s, it became almost socially obligatory; not doing so was seen as evidence of concubinage, particularly until the 1970s. In Portugal since 1977, and in Brazil since the 1970s, a woman has the option of whether or not to take her husband's surname after marriage. In Portugal since 1977, and in Brazil since 2002, a husband can also adopt his wife's surname. In Portugal, when this happens, usually both spouses change their name after marriage. In Brazil, there is not yet a perceived pattern.Mandatory adoption of a new combined name led to unusual combinations when the woman's surname was kept, as in the not uncommon case of both spouses having the same surname before marriage. Another confusing situation occurred, for example, when a woman named Ana Lima Silva married a man named João Lima. In such a situation her name could become Ana Lima Silva Lima. Nowadays in Portugal, a person may adopt their spouse's surname, but only in combination with their own birth surnames. For example, if Maria Abreu Melo marries José Santos Almeida, she could choose to become Maria Abreu Melo Almeida or Maria Abreu Melo Santos Almeida.
In Brazil, a woman may adopt her husband's surname while also either retaining her maiden name or not. For example, when Maria Abreu Melo marries José Santos Almeida, she could choose to become Maria Abreu Melo Almeida, Maria Abreu Melo Santos Almeida, Maria Santos Almeida, Maria Almeida, etc. The most common practice is for a woman to keep part of her birth name and use part of her husband's surname so as to avoid an overly long string of surnames. So, the most used combination from the above example would be Maria Melo Almeida.
In 2012, a circuit of the Brazilian Superior [Court of Justice |Superior Court of Justice] allowed a woman to adopt her male partner's surname while in a common-law marriage.
Collation
When producing alphabetized lists of Portuguese names, generally the full name is used and sorted by personal names. This occurs mainly in schools or official documents, and it is usually done because many people use multiple different surname combinations in their daily life, or do not use the last surname at all. This makes it difficult to order people by the surnames they use. A typical alphabetized list may look like:- António Borges Santos
- António Silva Abreu Melo
- Leonor Soares Henriques Pais
- Sofia Matilde Almeida Pais
- Melo, António Silva Abreu
- Pais, Leonor Soares Henriques
- Pais, Sofia Matilde Almeida
- Santos, António Borges
As a result of these practices it is common for lists alphabetized by surnames to contain errors when dealing with Portuguese names. Additionally, Portuguese names that have been absorbed into a different culture, such as those of English or French-speakers of Portuguese descent, are generally treated according to the practice of those languages or cultures. The Portuguese-American author John Dos Passos, for example, is referred to as having the surname Dos Passos.
Nicknames
Portuguese nicknames are usually formed by inserting the diminutive infix -inh or -it before the final vowel in the name. For example, Teresa becomes Teresinha, and Carlos becomes Carlinhos. In some cases, a nickname is formed by adding zinho or -zito – to the actual name. For example, João becomes Joãozinho or Sofia becomes Sofiazinha.Augmentative suffixes may be used as well, with "Marcos" becoming "Marcão", for example. Other practices include the repetition of a syllable, a simple shortening of the name, the contraction of the name, or of a fraction of it. A mix of shortening and adding a suffix may also occur. Sometimes, a foreign-language nickname is used for the corresponding Portuguese name. Most personal names have one or more standard diminutives. Some typical Portuguese hypocoristics :
- Adriana= Drica, Adri, Didi, Didica
- Afonso = Afonsinho
- Alexandra = Alê*, Xana, Alex, Xanda
- Alexandre = Alex, Xande, Xando, Xano, Xandinho
- Alice = Alicinha, Licinha, Cinha, Lice, Lili
- Alzira = Alzi
- Amélia = Amelinha, Melita, Mel
- Amália = Mália
- Amâncio/Amância = Mâncio
- Ana = Aninha, Aninhas, Anita, Anoca, Nita, Ninha, Nana
- Anabela = Bela; Belinha; Belita
- Anália = Analinha; Nália
- Antônio/António = Tó, Tonho*, Tonhão*, Toni/Tonnie, Tóne, Toninho, Tonico
- Augusto/Augusta = Guga, Guto/Guta, Tuto*, Gus*
- Aurélio/Aurélia = Relio/Relia
- Bárbara = Bá, Babá, Babi, Barbie
- Beatriz = Bia/Bea, Bibi
- Bernardo = Nanu; Benas; Bernas; Berna; Ben
- Bianca = Bia*
- Bruna/Bruno = Bru
- Caio = Cacá, Caíto
- Camila = Camilinha, Camilita, Mila, Miloca, Mi, Mia, Ca, Caca
- Carla = Ca, Caca, Carlinha, Carlita, Carlota
- Carlos = Carlinhos, Carlitos, Carlito, Cacá, Calu, Litos
- Carlota = Lota
- Carolina = Lininha, Lina, Carol, Cacá, Carô*
- Cecília = Cilinha, Cila, Cissa, Ceci
- Cláudia/Cláudio = Cau, Cacau, Dinha/Dinho, Claudinha/Claudinho
- Cristina/e ou Cristiana/e = Cris, Cristininha, Tina, Tininha
- Daiana/e = Dada, Dandinha, Dai*, Nana*
- Daniel = Dani, Dan*, Dandan*
- Daniela = Dani, Dandan*, Danizinha, Dandinha
- Diana = Didi
- Diogo = Dioguinho, Dioguito, Di, Didi, Diguinho, Digo, Diga
- Eduardo = Edu, Dudu, Dado, Du
- Eduarda = Duda, Dada, Du
- Elisabete = Bete, Beta, Lisa, Bé, Beti, Betinha
- Elvira = Elvirinha, Vira
- Emília/Emílio = Emilinha/Emilinho, Mila/Milinha, Milho*, Miloca*, Mia*
- Eugénia/Eugénio = Geninha/Geninho
- Eugênia/Eugênio = Geninha/Geninho
- Eurico = Dico
- Fábio/Fabiano/a = Fabico, Biano*, Bibi*, Fabi, Bi*, Fá*, Binho*
- Fátima = Fatinha*, Tata*
- Fernando = Fefa, Fernandinho, Nando, Fê*
- Fernanda = Fefa, Nanda, Nandinha, Nandita, Fê*
- Filipa/Felipa = Filipinha, Lipa, Pipa, Fifi
- Filipe/Felipe = Felipinho, Lipe, Pipo, Fili, Phil*
- Filomena = Mena, Lumena, Filó
- Francine = Fran*
- Francisca = Francisquinha, Chica, Chiquinha, Quica/Kika
- Francisco = Francisquinho, Chico, Chiquinho, Chiquito, Quico/Kiko, Cisco
- Frederico = Fred, Fredy/Freddie, Dico, Drico, Fré, Fu
- Gabriel = Gabi, Bibo, Biel
- Gabriela/Gabriele = Gabi, Gabinha, Bia*, Biela*, Bibi*
- Giovana = Gi*
- Gisele = Gi*
- Gonçalo = Gonçalinho, Gonça, Gonças, Gongas, Gonzo, Gugu, Guga, Gu
- Guilherme = Gui, Guigui, Guile*, Will*, Willy/Willie*, Guiga, Guibinha
- Gustavo = Guto, Guga, Gugu, "Gus", Gug*
- Helena/Heleno = Lena/Leno, Leninha/Leninho, Leni/Lennie, Lelê
- Henrique = Rique/Rick*, Riquinho*, Ique, Quique, Quico
- Inês = Inesinha, Nê, Nenê/Nené, Nês, Nenoca, Inoca, Inocas, Inuecas, Nessa,
- Isabel/Isabela = Bela, Isabelinha, Isabelita, Belinha, Belita, Isa, Béia, Bebel*, Bebela, Beca, Bel
- Jaime = Jaiminho, Jaimito, Minho
- Jaqueline = Jaque*
- Joana = Joaninha, Ju, Juju, Jana, Janocas, Jô*, Juca
- João = Johnny, Joãozinho, Janjão, Jão, Juca, Joca, Janocas, Bão, Janeca, Jone, Jonh, Jójo
- Joaquim = Quim, Joca, Jaquim, Quinzinho, Quincas
- Jorge = Jorginho, Jó, Joca, Djódi*
- José = Zé, Zezé, Zeca, Zezinho, Jô, Joe
- Josiana/Josiane = Josi*
- Júlia = Ju, Julinha, Juju
- Juliana = Ju, Juju, Juli
- Larissa = Lari*
- Laura/Lauro = Laurinha/Laurinho, Lala, Lalá
- Leonardo = Léo, Leozinho, Leco*
- Leonor = Nonô, Nô, Léo
- Letícia = Lê, Leti, Ticia
- Lídia = Lídi, Li, Dida
- Lígia = Lili, Lica
- Liliana = Lili, Lilas, Liana*, Lana*
- Lorena = Lora, Ló, Loló
- Lúcia = Lucinha, Luci, Lu
- Luís/Luísa = Lu, Luisinho/Luisinha, Luisito/Luisita, Lula*, Lulu; many combinations with Lu and hypocoristics of other names are possibly because Luís is a common first name in Lusophone countries
- Lurdes/Lourdes = Lu, Lou, Ludi*, Lurdinha*
- Madalena/Magdalena = Lena, Madá, Mady/Madie/Maddie
- Magda = Magdinha, Maguinha
- Manuel = Manelinho, Manelocas, Manel, Mané, Maneco, Neco*, Manu, Nelo, Nelito, Nelinho
- Manuela = Manela, Manu, Nela, Nelita, Manocas,
- Marcelo = Celo, Shelo/Chelo, Tchelo, Celim, Marcelinho*
- Márcia/Márcio = Marcinha/Marcinho
- Marcos/Marco = Marcão, Marquinhos, Marquito, Caco*
- Margarida = Margaridinha, Guida, Guidinha, Maggie
- Maria = Bia, Mariazinha, Maricota, Cota, Cotinha, Micas, Mia, Mimi, Mary
- Mária/Mário = Marinho/Marinha, Maruca, Má*
- Mariana = Marianinha, Marianita, Nita, Mari, Má*, Nana*
- Marlene = Leni, Mary
- Marnia = Marni, Marnie
- Marta = Martinha, Tata*, Má*
- Mateus = Mateusinho*, Teteu*
- Melissa = Mel*
- Micael = Micas/Mikas, Mica/Mika
- Miguel = Miguelinho, Miguelito, Micas, Mike, Mígui
- Natália = Náti*
- Nélson = Nelo, Nelinho, Nelito
- Nicola/Nicolau/Nicholas = Nico/Niko/Nica, Niquito/Niquita, Lalá, Lalau, Nick*
- Nuno = Nuninho, Nunito
- Octávio/Otávio = Távio, Tavinho, Tavo*
- Osvaldo = Vado, Vadinho, Valdinho, Vavá, Ósvi, Valdo
- Pâmela = Pam
- Patrícia = Pati/Paty/Páti/Patie, Pátri, Pat, Ticha/Tixa, Tiça
- Paula/Paulo = Paulinho/Paulinha, Pauleta, Paulão*
- Pedro = Pedrinho, Pedrito, Pepê, Pedrocas, Peu
- Priscila = Pri*
- Rafael = Rafa, Rafe, Fael, Rafinha*
- Rafaela = Rafa, Rafinha
- Renata/Renato = Rê*, Renatinha/Renatinho, Nata/Nato*
- Ricardo = Cado, Cadinho, Ricardinho, Rico, Rick
- Rita = Ritinha, Ri
- Roberto = Betinho, Berto, Beto, Tinho*
- Rodolfo = Rô*, Rodas
- Rodrigo = Digo, Diguinho, Rúdri, Rody, Rud/Rudy
- Rosa = Ró, Rosinha, Rose*
- Rui = Ruca, Ruizinho
- Salvador = Sássá, Salva, Salvas, Sal
- Sara = Sarinha, Sarocas
- Sebastião = Sebastiãozinho, Bastião, Tião, Tão, Babá*, Sebas, Sebasti
- Sofia = Pipia, Sofi, Fi*, Sô*
- Susana = Susaninha, Su, Suse, Susy/Suzy
- Tamires = Tata*
- Teresa = Teresinha, Té, Teté/Tetê
- Tiago = Tiaguinho, Ti, Guinho*
- Tomé = Tomézinho
- Vanessa = Nêssa*
- Vera = Verinha, Veroca, Verusca, Verita
- Victor/Vítor = Tó, Vitinho, Vic
- Victória/Vitória = Vivi, Vicky
- Vinícius = Vini*, Nil*
- Y/Iolanda = Yoyô, Ioiô, Landa
- Cadu
- Caíque
- Cajó
- Gal
- Joca/Juca
- Jomi
- Madu
- Malu/Milú
- Maricota
- Mazé, Mizé
- Maju
- Miju
- Mitó
- Tó-Jó
- Tó-Pê
- Tozé
- Zeca
- Zeza
- Zezé
Brazilian-specific patterns
Children of immigrants
In Brazil, recent immigrants – especially Italians, Germans, Jews and Japanese – usually give their sons only the father's family surname. Although there is no legal restriction on this practice, assimilation usually leads to a shift toward a Portuguese pattern in succeeding generations.Today, one can find people who use two Italian surnames or two Japanese surnames, a practice that was unusual in 20th century Italy and never used in Japan. Having two surnames from different non-Portuguese origin is also not uncommon, such as the Brazilian celebrity Sabrina Sato Rahal, of Japanese and Swiss-Lebanese descent. Particularly common are German-Italian combinations, especially in Rio Grande do Sul. The Spanish pattern is in many ways similar, but the father's surname usually precedes the mother's, unlike Portuguese usage. Almost all of the first generation of Brazilians of Spanish-speaking ancestry were named using the Portuguese surname order.
São Paulo State area
A specific pattern developed among the descendants of 20th-century immigrants: they use only their father's surname and two personal names, the first is a Portuguese personal name and the second one is a personal name from their father's original country. This pattern is most used among Japanese and Syrian-Lebanese immigrants sons and grandsons. So, one can find names like "Paulo Salim Maluf" where Paulo is a Portuguese personal name, Salim is an Arabic personal name, and Maluf is his father's surname; or "Maria Heiko Sugahara" where Maria is a Portuguese personal name, Heiko a Japanese personal name and Sugahara is her father's surname. This practice allows the person to be known as "Paulo Maluf" or "Maria Sugahara" in Brazilian society at large, and as "Salim Maluf" or "Heiko Sugahara" in their immigrant social community.This pattern used to be quite common in São Paulo. Intermarriage has reduced this practice, but it is still commonly used when both parents belong to the same ethnic group. Younger generations tend to use both the father's and the mother's family name, thus giving four names to their children.
Origin of Portuguese surnames
Before Romans entered the territory of present-day Portugal, the native people identified themselves by a single name, or that name followed by a patronym. The names could be Celtic, Lusitanian, Iberian or Conii. The names were clearly ethnic and some typical of a tribe or region. A slow adoption of the Roman onomastic occurred after the end of the first century AD, with the adoption of a Roman name or of the tria nomina: praenomen, nomen and cognomen.Surnames originating from patronymics
Most Portuguese surnames have a patronymical, locative or religious origin. Patronymics are names derived from the father's personal name that, many centuries ago, began to be used as surnames. They are a common form of surnames in the lands where Portuguese is spoken and also have developed in many other languages. In Portuguese, patronymics are surnames such as Henriques, Pires, Rodrigues, Lopes, Nunes, Mendes, Fernandes, Gonçalves, Esteves and Álvares, where the ending -es means. Some surnames that originated in this way do not end in es; instead they end in iz, like Muniz and Ruiz, or ins, like Martins. Although most Portuguese surnames ending in -es are former patronymics, some family names with -es- endings are not patronymics, but toponymics, such as Tavares, Cortês and Chaves.Some surnames are equal to personal names, such as Joana Fernando, or André João, in which "Fernando" and "João" are surnames. It is rather improbable that those are patronymics; more likely they originated with people with no surnames, who were given two names for the sake of enhanced individuality. One can find today in Portugal and Brazil people who still use surnames that for other people are just personal names, although they were passed from parents to sons for generations, such as Valentim, Alexandre, Fernando, Afonso and Antonio. Names like Dinis, Duarte, Garcia and Godinho were originally personal names, but today they are used in Brazil almost exclusively as surnames, although Duarte and Dinis are still common personal names in Portugal.
Matronymics are not used in Portuguese. Surnames such as "Catarino" and "Mariano" are rather references to Catholic saints.
Some former patronymics are not easily recognized, for two main reasons. Sometimes the personal name that was the basis of the patronymic became archaic, such as Lopo, Mendo or Mem, Soeiro, Munio, Sancho. Also, often the personal names or the related patronymic changed through centuries, although always some resemblance can still be noted – such as Antunes, Peres, Alves, and Eanes.
Locative surnames
A large number of surnames are locative, related to the geographical origin of a person, such as the name of a village, town, city, land, river. Such surnames like Almeida, Andrada or Andrade, Barcelos, Barros, Bastos, Braga, Beira , Castelo Branco, Cintra, Coimbra, Faria, Gouveia, Guimarães, Lima, Lisboa, Maia, Mascarenhas, Pacheco, Porto, Portugal, Serpa, Leão.Some names specify a location of the family's house within the village: Fonte, Fontoira/Fontoura, Azenha, Eira, Tanque, Fundo, Cimo/Cima, Cabo, Cabral. In some cases, the family name may not be a locative, but an indication of ownership.
Surnames were also derived from geological or geographical forms, such as Pedroso, Rocha, Souza/''Sousa, Vale, Bierzo, Ribeiro/Rivero, Siqueira/Sequeira, Castro, Dantas, Costa, Pedreira, Barreira, Couto, Outeiro,Vilar/Villar, Seixas, Veiga/Vega, Córdoba/Córdova, Padrão, Celanova.
Names of trees or plantations are also locative surnames, originally related to identifying a person who lived near or inside a plantation, an orchard or a place with a characteristic kind of vegetation. Names such as Silva and Matos, Campos, Teixeira, Queirós, Cardoso, Correia, Macedo, Azevedo, Amaral, and Arruda, fit this pattern.
These kinds of surnames were commonly adopted by the Sephardic Jews of Portugal, and Spain as well. However, many Eastern Ashkenazi Jews also chose surnames connected to nature derived from fruit and other trees, plants, vegetables, flowers, mountains, rivers, animals, i.e., Greenbaum, Rosenberg, Bloomgarten, Applebaum, Kirschenbaum, Feigenbaum, Olivenbaum, Bloomenthal, Weinblatt, Fox, Eagle, Fischer, Berg, etc.
Tree names are very common locative Portuguese/Sephardic surnames – Oliveira/Olivera, Carvalho, Servia, Pinheiro, Pereira/Pereyra, Pêro/Pero, Pereiro/Do Pereyro, Aciveiro, Moreira, Macedo/Macieira, Filgueira/Figueira, Loureiro/Laureiro. There is the case of Pereira/Pereyra'' which is a pear tree: in the old documentations of the Portuguese language also appears as a variant of Pedreira or Pedreiro and this means "stone quarry" or mason.
Religious surnames
Surnames with religious meanings or connotations are common. It is possible that some of these originated from an ancestor who converted to Catholicism and intended or needed to demonstrate his new faith. Another possible source of religious names were orphans who were abandoned in the churches and raised in Catholic orphanages by priests and nuns. They were usually baptized with a name related to the date near when they were found or baptized. Another possible source is when religious personal names were adopted as family names.Religious names includes de Jesus, dos Reis, Ramos, Pascoal, da Assunção, do Nascimento, da Visitação, da Anunciação, da Conceição, Trindade, do Espírito Santo, das Chagas, Graça, Patrocínio, Paz, Luz, Neves, Penha, das Dores, Bonfim, das Virgens, dos Anjos, São João, Santana, Santos and Cruz.
An orphan with unknown parents or a converted person was frequently baptized with the name of a saint, such as João Baptista, João Evangelista, João de Deus, António de Pádua, João Nepomuceno, Francisco de Assis, Francisco de Paula, Francisco de Salles, Inácio de Loiola, Tomás Aquino, José de Calazans, or José de Cupertino. After that, they usually passed only the second personal name to their sons as a surname. A surname such as Xavier could have originated from someone baptized after Saint Francis Xavier or from the old Portuguese family Xavier''.
Descriptive surnames
Some surnames are possible descriptions of a peculiar characteristic of an ancestor, originating from nicknames. These include names like Veloso, Vergueiro, Medrado, Porciúncula, Magro, Magriço, Gago, Galhardo, Terrível, Penteado, Romeiro ''Verdugo/Berdugo''.Profession and occupation surnames
Portuguese surnames that originated from professions or occupations are few, such as Serrador, Monteiro, Guerreiro, Caldeira, Cubas, Carneiro, Peixe.Foreign-origin surnames
Some Portuguese names originated from foreigners who came to live in Portugal or Brazil many centuries ago. They are so ancient that, despite their known foreign origin, they are an integrated part of Portuguese and Brazilian cultures.Most of these names are Spanish, such as Toledo, Ávila or Dávila and Padilha. Other common "foreign" surnames are Bettencourt or Bittencourt, Goulart, Goulard or Gullar, Fontenele or Fontenelle, Rubim, Alencastro, Lencastre, Drummond, Werneck, Vernek or Berneque, Wanderley, Dutra, Brum, Bulcão, Dulmo, Acioli, Doria, Cavalcanti, Netto or Neto.
The question of Portuguese Jewish surnames
It is a popular belief that the Jews living in Portugal up to 1497, when they were forced to choose between conversion or expulsion, substituted their surnames with the names of trees that do not bear edible fruits, such as Carvalho and Junqueira. Others say that they usually chose animal Leão ; plant/vegetable Pimentel ; fruit such as Figo and Moreira ; and tree names such as Pereira or Oliveira, in this case trees that bear edible fruits. However, even these names were already used by Christians during the Middle Ages; these surnames were mostly used by the converted Jews during the time the Inquisition existed.Be that as it may, many of these surnames already belonged to members of Portugal's ancient Jewish population, which experts believe likely numbered around twenty-thousand. Many of the Sephardic Jews of Portugal simply transliterated the spellings of the names they already possessed, to align more closely with the Christian Portuguese surnames that were already commonly used in Portugal.This was done to deflect any suspicion that they were Jews. One good example is the Jewish tribe name Menasseh, which was transliterated and became the Portuguese surname "Meneses". Many Jewish names were modified in this fashion, and in time, they became bonafide Portuguese Christian surnames. Thus, by adopting these kinds of names of Jewish origin that became accepted Portuguese surnames, meant that in a very real sense, the Portuguese Jews actually ended up adopting surnames that were originally theirs to begin with.
Another family name usually pointed out as denoting Jewish ancestry is Espírito Santo and Verdugo/Berdugo. The rationale is that Jews would adopt as a family name an Christian concept as a deception. In fact, they were choosing the most incorporeal Trinity person, that is, the one that offended least their Jewish faith. This theory is not totally unfounded, as there is evidence that the cult around the Holy Spirit flourished after 1496, especially among New Christians. This does not rule out that "Espírito Santo" was also adopted by faithful Christians, following the rationale of other religious surnames.
The Portuguese Jews living in Portugal up to 1497 bore personal names that could distinguish them from the Christian population. Most of these names are Portuguese versions of older Semitic names like Abenazo, Abencobra/Cobra, Aboab, Abravanel, Albarrux, Azenha, Benafull, Benafaçom, Benazo, Caçez, Cachado, Çaçom/Saçom, Carraf, Carilho, Cide/Cid, Çoleima, Faquim, Faracho, Faravom, Fayham/Fayam, Focem, Çacam/Sacam, Famiz, Gadim, Gedelha, Labymda, Latam/Latão, Loquem, Lozora, Maalom, Maçon, Maconde, Mocatel, Mollaão, Montam, Motaal, Rondim, Rosall, Samaia/Çamaya, Sanamel, Saraya, Tarraz, Tavy/Tovy, Toby, Varmar, Verdugo/Berdugo, Zaaboca, Zabocas, Zaquim, Zaquem. Some were locative names, not necessarily specific to Jewish populations, like Catelaão/Catalão, Castelão/Castelhão, Crescente, Medina, Romano, Romão, Romeiro, Tolledam/''Toledano, Vallency and Vascos ; some were patronymics from Biblical names like Abraão, Lázaro, Barnabé, Benjamim, Gabril , Muça '', and Natam ; some are profession names such as Caldeirão, Martelo, Pexeiro, Chaveirol, and Prateiro ; some are nicknames such as Calvo, Dourado, Ruivo, Crespo, Querido and Parente. A few names are not distinct from old Portuguese surnames, such as Camarinha, Castro, Crespim.
Some scholars proved that the converted Portuguese Jews usually chose a patronymic as their new surname and, when the conversion was not forced, they would choose to bear the surname of their godfather. The Jewish-Portuguese community that flourished in the Netherlands and Hamburg, Germany, after their expulsion from Portugal used surnames such as Camargo, Costa, Fonseca, Pimentel, Dias, Pinto, and Silveira.
Some of the most famous descendants of Portuguese Jews who lived outside Portugal are the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and the classical economist David Ricardo. Other famous members of the Portuguese Synagogue of Amsterdam bore names such as Uriel da Costa, Abraham Pimentel, Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, Isaac de Pinto and Menasseh ben Israel.
The Belmonte Jews also bear surnames that cannot be used to distinguish them from the older Catholic Portuguese families. Using tree names as surnames was not a common practice among converted or non-converted Portuguese Jews, before or after their expulsion in 1497.
Frequency
Most common surnames in Portugal and Brazil
These are some most frequent surnames in Portugal:| Order | Surname | Frequency | |
| 1 | Silva | 9,44% | 995 |
| 2 | Santos | 5,96% | 628 |
| 3 | Oliveira | 5,25% | 553 |
| 4 | Sousa | 4,88% | 514 |
| 5 | Rodrigues | 3,71% | 391 |
| 6 | Ferreira | 3,68% | 387 |
| 7 | Alves | 3,57% | 376 |
| 8 | Pereira | 3,23% | 340 |
| 9 | Lima | 2,99% | 315 |
| 10 | Gomes | 2,95% | 311 |
| 11 | Costa | 2,82% | 297 |
| 12 | Ribeiro | 2,76% | 291 |
| 13 | Martins | 2,57% | 271 |
| 14 | Carvalho | 2,52% | 265 |
| 15 | Almeida | 2,51% | 265 |
| 16 | Lopes | 2,37% | 250 |
| 17 | Soares | 2,27% | 239 |
| 18 | Fernandes | 2,27% | 239 |
| 19 | Vieira | 2,09% | 220 |
| 20 | Barbosa | 1,97% | 208 |
| 21 | Rocha | 1,93% | 192 |
| 22 | Dias | 1,69% | 178 |
| 23 | Nascimento | 1,54% | 162 |
| 24 | Andrade | 1,53% | 161 |
| 25 | Moreira | 1,39% | 146 |
| 26 | Nunes | 1,32% | 139 |
| 27 | Marques | 1,28% | 135 |
| 28 | Machado | 1,2% | 127 |
| 29 | Mendes | 1,11% | 117 |
| 30 | Freitas | 1,07% | 113 |
| 31 | Cardoso | 1,04% | 110 |
| 32 | Ramos | 0,98% | 103 |
| 33 | Gonçalves | 0,97% | 102 |
| 34 | Santana | 0,94% | 99 |
| 35 | Teixeira | 0,93% | 98 |
| 36 | Araújo | 0,92% | 97 |
| 37 | Conceição | 0,86% | 91 |
| 38 | Bezerra | 0,85% | 90 |
| 39 | Campos | 0,85% | 90 |
| 40 | Reis | 0,82% | 86 |
| 41 | Melo | 0,82% | 86 |
| 42 | Moraes | 0,81% | 86 |
| 43 | Borges | 0,76% | 80 |
| 44 | Castro | 0,69% | 73 |
| 45 | Monteiro | 0,69% | 72 |
| 46 | Moura | 0,67% | 71 |
| 47 | Miranda | 0,66% | 70 |
According to a large scale study of names extracted from various social networking websites, the most common surnames in Brazil are:
| Surname | Frequency |
| Silva | 2.409818% |
| Santos | 2.08495% |
| Oliveira | 1.807492% |
| Souza | 1.391685% |
| Rodrigues | 1.160769% |
| Lima | 1.095724% |
| Alves | 1.056915% |
| Ferreira | 1.012418% |
| Pereira | 0.878372% |
| Gomes | 0.792352% |
| Costa | 0.761942% |
| Ribeiro | 0.745374% |
| Martins | 0.684785% |
| Almeida | 0.660773% |
| Carvalho | 0.651517% |
| Soares | 0.621934% |
| Fernandes | 0.5921% |
| Lopes | 0.590011% |
| Araujo | 0.569747% |
| Nascimento | 0.555078% |
| Sousa | 0.534135% |
Most common names in Portugal and Brazil
According to the newspaper Público, the most common personal names in Portugal, for 105,000 children born in 2008 were:| Males | Females |
| João | Maria |
| Rodrigo | Beatriz |
| Martim | Ana |
| Diogo | Leonor |
| Tiago | Mariana |
| Tomás | Matilde |
According to the IBGE the most common personal names in Brazil in 2010 were:
| Name | Incidence |
| 1. Maria | 11,734,119 |
| 2. José | 5,754,529 |
| 3. Ana | 3,098,858 |
| 4. João | 2,984,119 |
| 5. Antônio | 2,576,348 |
| 6. Francisco | 1,772,197 |
| 7. Carlos | 1,489,191 |
| 8. Paulo | 1,423,262 |
| 9. Pedro | 1,219,605 |
| 10. Lucas | 1,127,310 |
According to the Website, the top 10 most common personal names in Brazil in 2014 were:
| Men | Women |
| 1. Miguel | Sophia |
| 2. Davi | Alice |
| 3. Arthur | Julia |
| 4. Pedro | Isabella |
| 5. Gabriel | Manuela |
| 6. Bernardo | Laura |
| 7. Lucas | Luiza |
| 8. Matheus | Valentina |
| 9. Rafael | Giovanna |
| 10. Heitor | Maria Eduarda |
Brazilian names
Brazilian surnames
Portuguese surnames of Afro-Brazilians and native Brazilians
Until abolition of slavery, slaves did not have surnames, only personal names. They were even forbidden to use their distinct African or Native Brazilian names and were christened with a Portuguese personal name. While slavery persisted, slaves needed to have distinct names only within the plantation to which they belonged. It was a common practice to name free slaves after their former owners, so all their descendants have the Portuguese surnames of their former owner.Indigenous people who were not slaves also chose to use their godparents' surnames as their own. Religious names are also more common among people with African or native Brazilian ancestors than among people with only European ancestors. A slave who had just a personal name like Francisco de Assis could use the partial name de Assis as a surname, since the connective – de – gives the appearance of surname.
The practice of naming Afro-Brazilians with religious surnames was proved even by some indirect approaches. Medical researchers demonstrated that there is a statistical correlation between a religious name and genetic diseases related to African ancestry such as the sickle-cell disease. Due to miscegenation, the correlation exists even among white people that have religious surnames. It was also common to name indigenous people and freed slaves with surnames which were already very common such as Silva or Costa. That is why Silva is the most common surname in Brazil.
Surnames from native Brazilian words
In the years following Brazil's independence, some old Brazilians families changed their surnames to surnames derived from Tupian languages as a patriotic way to emphasize the new Fatherland. Some of these names are still spelled with Portuguese old orthography, but some are spelled according to the new rules. These names, following the old orthography, include:- Native Brazilian nations or tribes: Tupinambá, Tabajara, Carijó, Goytacaz, Guarany, Tamoyo ;
- Brazilian trees: Jatobá, Mangabeira, Pitangui, Sarahyba, Palmeira, Goiabeira ;
- Typical Brazilian fruits: Pitanga, Muricy, Guaraná ;
- Famous Native Brazilian chiefs: Cayubi, Tibiriçá, Paraguaçu, Piragibe.
Brazilian locative surnames
Some Brazilian surnames, like some old Portuguese surnames, are locative surnames that denote the original place where the ancestor who first used it was born or lived. Like surnames that originated from words, this practice started during the patriotic years that followed Brazil's Independence.These are surnames like Brasil, Brasiliense, Brasileiro, América, Americano, Bahiense, Cearense and Maranhão
Some of these are toponyms derived from Tupian languages such as:
- Brazilian rivers: Capibaribe, Parahyba ;
- Brazilian places: Pirassununga, Piratininga, Carioca.
Thus surnames like:
Rio Branco, Jaguaribe, Ouro Preto, Paranaguá, Araripe, Suassuna, etc.
Non-Portuguese surnames in Brazil
Despite the lesser variation in Portuguese surnames, immigration from other countries increased the diversity of surnames in Brazil. Notwithstanding, the vast majority of Brazilian surnames are of Portuguese origin, due to the fact that it was the Portuguese who colonized Brazil.Some foreign surnames were respelled with time and today cannot be recognized in their original country . Some respelled foreign surnames are hardly recognized by speakers of the original language such as Collor de Mello|Collor], Chamareli and Branquini. Sometimes, different rules of romanization were applied to Japanese and Arabic names.
Thus there are extensively adapted or misspelled foreign surnames used by Brazilian descendants of non-Portuguese immigrants. Due to emigration, nowadays one can find these misspelled surnames even in their original country.
Immigrants' surnames
Although not so widely used as in the United States, immigrants used to change their surname to show assimilation or to avoid social discrimination in Brazil. This practice was most used during World War II by Italian immigrants because Italy was an enemy country for a few years. As Italians are Catholics and were easily assimilated in the larger Brazilian society, the practice was not perceived and almost forgotten after a single generation.The new Portuguese surname was generally chosen based on the original meaning of the foreign surname. Sometimes the new surname had only a phonetic resemblance with the foreign one (the Italian surnames Livieiro and Salviani sometimes were changed to Oliveira and Silva.
Respectful treatment using hypocoristics
In Brazil, until the first half of the 20th century, very important people could be called in a very respectful – but not formal – way using a social or military title and a childish hypocoristics of their personal name, such as "Coronel Tonico", "Comendador Paulinho", "Dona Chica", Sinhá Mariquinha. Although an American president could be called Bill or Jimmy by the press, this practice was used in Brazil as a much more respectful treatment and never in a formal way.Some sociologists have suggested that members of the Brazilian upper classes were often raised by slave women who called them using a hypocoristics, and that childish name continued to be used, but in a respectful way, when they grew up. Today, this practice is not so widespread, but one can find people informally, but respectfully, called "Seu Zé" or "Dona Ritinha".
Adding personal names to surnames
In Brazil, descendants of famous people sometimes use a surname composed of both the personal name and the surname of their ancestor, like the Ruy Barbosa, Vital Brazil,, Rubens Paiva, Lula da Silva and Lafayette Rodrigues families. Such practice allows them to be easily recognised by other people as descendants of their famous ancestor. Such a pattern is rare.Personal names
Personal names of foreign origin
In Portugal, newborns can only be named from a list of personal names permitted by Civil Law. Names are required to be spelt according to the rules of Portuguese orthography and to be a part of Portuguese-language onomastic, thereby showing limited variations, when traditional names are favoured over modern ones. Examples of popular Portuguese names are António, João, José, Francisco, Pedro or Manuel and Maria, Ana, Isabel, Teresa or Joana. In recent decades there has been a popularity rise for ancient historical names such as Gonçalo, Bernardo, Vasco, Afonso, Leonor, Catarina or Beatriz. If one of the parents is not Portuguese or has double citizenship, foreign names are allowed, as long as the parents present a document proving the requested name is allowed in their country of origin. In the past, immigrant children who were born abroad were required to adopt a Portuguese name in order to become Portuguese citizens – an example is tennis player Michelle de Brito, whose legal name is Micaela. This practice no longer applies.In Brazil, there is no legal restriction on naming a newborn child, unless the personal name has a meaning that can humiliate or embarrass those who bear it. Brazilians living far from the big cities or lower-class people are prone to create new personal names, joining the names of the parents or classical names, changing the spelling of foreign names or even using foreign suffixes that – they may believe – give a sophisticated or modern sound to the new name.
Foreign surnames are also widely used as personal names such as Wagner, Mozart, Donizetti, Lamartine, Danton, Anderson, Emerson, Edison, Franklin, Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Nelson], Wilson, Washington, Jefferson, Jensen, Kennedy, Lenin, Newton, Nobel, Rosenberg, Alextricia and Ocirema. Originally these names showed the political, artistic or scientific admiration of the parents who first used them to name their sons..
Personal names originating from Native Brazilian names
During the reign of the second Emperor, Dom Pedro II, the Native Brazilian was used as the symbol of the Empire. At this time, Brazilian people started to use Native Brazilian names as personal names. Some are among the most popular until nowadays. These are names like Araci, Caubi, Guaraci, Iara, Iberê, Ioná, Jaci, Janaína, Jandira, Juçara, Juraci, Jurema, Maiara, Moacir, Moema, Ubiratã, Ceci, Iracema, Peri and Ubirajara.Recently, Brazilians have started to use other personal names of Native Brazilian origin like Rudá, Cauã and Cauê, although their use connotes the hippie culture.