Portugal Naming Customs

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Portugal

Personal Names

Understanding customs used in surnames and given names can help you identify your ancestors in records. Learn to recognize name variations and see clues in names.

Online Tools

Sometimes, deciphering a given name in an old handwritten document is not as easy as one might suppose. This could be due to the widespread use of abbreviations or to the difficulty in reading the handwriting. Use this lists of names to assist you in interpreting the names mentioned in the documents.

• List of Surnames
• List of Given Names
• Abbreviations

For the origin and meaning of names:

• Behind the Name: Portuguese Surnames

Surnames

A Portuguese name is typically composed of one or two given names, and a number of family names (rarely one, but often two or three, sometimes more). The first additional names are usually the mother's family surname(s) and the father's family surname(s). It is not uncommon in Portugal that a married woman has two given 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. For practicality, usually only the last surname (excluding prepositions) is used in formal greetings.

There has never been a standardized method of establishing surnames. However, there are several prevalent patterns.

• Historically, daughters were commonly given their mother's surname, and sons were given their father's surname.
• It was also common for children to receive both of their parents' surnames. When this combination occurred, the mother's surname would typically precede the father's surname.
• Women tended to retain their maiden surname throughout their life.
  • In the late 19th century, the it became common for women to adopt adopting their husband's surname, but this practice faded by the end of the century.
• From the mid 20th century onward, individuals tended to include their last (father's) surname in formal settings.
• Prepositions that can be used in Portuguese surnames are da, das, do, dos and de, such as in Maria da Cunha, José das Neves, Joana do Rosário, Luís dos Santos, Gabriela de Sousa, etc. and mean "from" or "of." Da, dos, etc. are contractions of the preposition de and a definite article (o, as, etc.), meaning "from the" or "of the." The current convention in Portuguese is that they be written in lower case.

Given Names

In Portugal, given names have been regulated since the creation of the Portuguese Republic, with couples allowed to choose only from a defined list of names. Because of this regulation, common given names have changed little over time.

The name 'Maria' The given name Maria (like English Mary, from Hebrew Miryam, via Latin Maria) is extremely common as a feminine given name and even combined with masculine names. In Portugal, it has always been common.[citation needed] Since the turn of the 21st century, a new wave of traditional given 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.[14]

Traditionally Maria is more common as the first part of a double first name combination; these may be formed by several different elements.

Religious predicates (often honouring one of the Virgin Mary's denominations):

Catholic devotion festivities: Maria da Conceição (referring to Our Lady of Conception), Maria das Dores (Our Lady of Sorrows), Maria da Assunção (Assumption of Mary), Maria da Natividade (Nativity of Mary). A place of a Marian apparition: Maria de Fátima (Fátima), Maria de Lurdes (Lourdes), Maria de la Salete (La Salette), Maria Aparecida (common in Brazil, after Aparecida), Maria Nazaré (Nazareth). A virtue or a nature element (many of which have lost religious associations nowadays): Maria do Céu (Heaven or Sky), Maria da Luz (Light), Maria do Mar (Sea), Maria da Graça (Grace). The name of a saint: Maria de São José (after Saint Joseph). Other types of combinations:

Maria paired with a different feminine given name: Maria Madalena, Maria Teresa, Maria Antónia (or Antônia, in Brazil), Maria Gabriela, Maria Beatriz, Maria Eduarda, Maria Luíza, Maria Fernanda, Maria Alice, Maria Carolina, Maria Dulce Maria paired with a masculine given name: Maria João, Maria José, Maria Manuel, Maria Luís, José Maria (which is often abbreviated as JM). Many names that are etymologically related to Maria are also used. The most common is the name Mariana, a contraction of Maria and Ana.