I've been reading a book titled OVER THE EDGE OF THE WORLD by Laurence Bergreen, it's the history of Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese Navigator or Fernao de Magalhaes who was said to have been born around 1480 in the Parish of Sabrosa in northwestern Portugal. His lineage can be traced through his father Rodrigo de Magalhaes who could trace his heritage back to the 11th century to a French crusader, De Magalhaes. Rodrigo qualified as minor Portuguese nobility.
As for Fernao's maternal heritage, his mother was Alda de Mesquita. The name Mesquita means mosque and this was a common name for Portuguese conversos who sought to disguise their Jewish heritage. One important detail is that the lineage was difficult to trace on the maternal side due to the unusual naming practices of the Portuguese. It was said that males assumed their father's last name but the females chose other surnames for themselves. They took on their father's name or their mother's, or even a saint's name and some children assumed their grandfather's name or still other family names. It says, " Ferdinad Magellan's brother Diogo took on the name de Sousa, from his paternal grandmother's family. "These irregularities make it difficult to determine even today exactly which branch of the Magalhaes family tree can rightfully claim the expolorer.
Just thought I'd share this with the group.
Alicia
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naming practices
Alicia, I'm having the same problem with females choosing to use grandparents surnames in the 1600's in Michoacan Mexico making it really hard to put my Alvarez Del Castillo families in the records correctly. They use grandparents surnames on some records and their mothers surname of others and then there is always that one record with their fathers surname in the mix! If a person was not familiar with what doing genealogy entails they would think we were crazy for putting so many surnames into one persons records.
Every bit of information, like the naming practice's of the Portuguese are important for doing research. I'm wondering if Portuguese scribes in early Mexico had anything to do with this too?
Linda in Everett
Linda Castanon-Long
Portuguese naming practices
The Portuguese surname practices that you discuss were not unique to the Portuguese. The Spanish in the 1500's and beyond take similar liberty in the use of apellidos. For example, the Santos Coy and the de la Garza Falcon surnames from the Nuevo Leon/Saltillo/Monterey are equally bizarre if you go back to the original paternal and maternal surnames in Spain. Admittedly, these two families had family members in their genealogy tree that were Portuguese and likely Jewish. However, there many other Spanish examples, e.g. Don Juan de Oñate---Basque paternal line and converso maternal line.
I often wonder if the conversos had multiple names (Christian name and Jewish name), thereby making the Christian name less important or not as important. The latter is sheer speculation on my part.
Ed
Portuguese naming practices
Edward and Linda,
In large part that's what caught my attention knowing that the Portuguese and Españoles probably had more in common than we factually know of. The survival instinct is more powerful than the desire to maintain one's ancestral lineage, unless of course to do so would prove to be advantageous monetarily or to prove linkage to some royal heritage.
Edward , the possibility exists that the Christian name may have been more important than the Jewish one. Taking on the Christian name they could still be Jewish but show to the world through their surname that they were Christian. The Jews rather than leave Portugal overtly displayed their Christianity in order to survive. During the reign of King Manuel 1, in 1496, he asked for the hand in marriage of the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, he was told that only under the condition that he purify Portugal of the Jews as the Spanish had done in 1492. King Manuel had a fondness for the Jewish people as they were scholars, artists, scientists and the best educated and rather than expelling them he had them convert to Christianity. However this didn't last because in the early 1500's there were mass slaughterings of Jews and many fled to the Netherlands.
Alicia
----- Original Message ----
From: Edward Serros
To: general@lists.nuestrosranchos.org
Sent: Sunday, April 1, 2007 9:39:41 AM
Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] Portuguese naming practices
The Portuguese surname practices that you discuss were not unique to the Portuguese. The Spanish in the 1500's and beyond take similar liberty in the use of apellidos. For example, the Santos Coy and the de la Garza Falcon surnames from the Nuevo Leon/Saltillo/Monterey are equally bizarre if you go back to the original paternal and maternal surnames in Spain. Admittedly, these two families had family members in their genealogy tree that were Portuguese and likely Jewish. However, there many other Spanish examples, e.g. Don Juan de Oñate---Basque paternal line and converso maternal line.
I often wonder if the conversos had multiple names (Christian name and Jewish name), thereby making the Christian name less important or not as important. The latter is sheer speculation on my part.
Ed