When you are just
starting out with Azorean genealogy, the issues and questions raised about
naming practices can be confusing and even overwhelming. This article is not
intended to be an in-depth explanation of every facet of naming traditions, but
rather its purpose is to help explain how our Azorean ancestors were named and
give new researchers the information they need to help them get started on
their research journey. This article will cover:
- Method of choosing surnames
- Female surnames and/or religious names
- Variant spellings
- Use of da, de, do, das, dos, and d'
- Miscellaneous "rules", often broken rules
First, you should know that there are no hard and fast rules about
naming. One of the most confusing things to new researchers is that surnames
are not followed down through the family as you might expect, or back in time
either. In other words, just because a father has the surname of Costa, for
instance, does not mean that his children will carry that surname. It also does
not mean that HIS father, etc. going back in time, will have the surname of
Costa. So, you cannot follow your ancestor back in time by simply finding
others with that surname. Also, you cannot assume that a person currently
living in the Azores with your surname is necessarily related to you for the
very same reason.
When a child is born in
the Azores, he or she is given a first name and that is what you will see in
their baptismal record. So, at least in the written records, that child does
not have a surname. He is known only, for example, as José, son of António
Vieira da Costa. José has no surname and will not be known in written records
with a surname until he reaches adulthood and/or becomes married. By the time a
male gets married, he is known by a surname and it will show in the written
records.
So, what surname will
the José from my above example take as his own? The answer is ..... just about
any surname he wants! He may choose the surname of his father, his mother, any
of his grandparents, perhaps his godparents, or any other surname he wants to
use. It could be from a cousin or a neighbor down the road that he admires. To
illustrate this practice, in my own family tree, I have an ancestor with six
sons and they all chose different surnames, different from each other and from
those of their parents and grandparents! However, the vast majority of the time
our ancestors will pick the surname of one of the parents or grandparents.
So, now you wonder, how
will I know if the José from the baptismal record I am looking at, is MY José?
The answer is that you MUST know the parents' names in order to find a child in
the baptismal records. As you can see, without knowing the parent's names, you
would have no idea which José from the records is your ancestor!
The naming of females in the Azores starts out the same as it does
for males. That is, females are also just recorded in their baptismal record
with a given or first name. Women's naming patterns changed depending on the
time period. From about the mid-1800s to approximately 1911, women's names
consisted of two given names, or what might be thought of as a first and middle
(often religious) name. María de Jesus does not have the surname Jesus.
She is using a religious name and Jesus should never be
considered her surname. Theresa Josefa, Francisca Antónia are first and middle
names and not surnames.
From approximately the
mid-1800s going back in time, women will appear more often with the traditional
type surnames: Glória Correia or Constancia Pimentel are women with the
surnames of Correia and Pimentel. The naming tradition of the surname is the
same as it is for men: It can come from any relative, godparent, or other
admired person or neighbor, with the vast majority of surnames coming from the
parents and grandparents sides of the family.
You may encounter variant spellings of both given and surnames,
especially the farther back in the records that you research. The older the
records are, the more you might notice other spelling variations. In my own
research, I have seen Sylveria for Silveira, Souza for Sousa, Gracia for
Garcia, and Roza for Rosa. Jozé and José are also the same name. So, if you
encounter any of these variations in your research, but the other facts add up
to be your family, you can feel confident that you have the correct person just
showing up with a variant spelling.
The last part of our naming traditions to be explained here is the
use of words like da, de, do, das, dos, and d' that you will often find in the
records just before a surname. These words are prepositions and basically they
all mean "of". They are either masculine or feminine, and singular or
plural and are used depending on the surname. The d' is more of a contraction
for de, do, and da. For instance surnames of Rosa or Terra would be written as da
Rosa and da Terra in the records. The preposition
"do" is also used but more often you will see "de" before
most other surnames. "Das" and "dos" are feminine and
masculine plurals, respectively and would be used with names such as das
Neves or dos Anjos.
Be aware that, as you do
your research, you will see these prepositions used in one record for an
individual, but they won't appear in the next record you find for that person.
They are not all that important in the names, and depending on the time period
and the priest writing the record, may or may not be included at all. As you
record your ancestors in a genealogy program, you may choose to include these
prepositions or leave them out. It is a personal preference and either way is
considered to be correct.
There
are other naming "rules" I could mention here. But, you should know
that these so called "rules" were broken more often than not. So,
they really are not rules at all, are they? I am giving them here, just for
your information and as possible guidelines for you. They should be considered
as possibilities only in your own research and NOT
as strict guidelines: (Remember the broken rules!)
- The first son was often named Manuel
- The first daughter was often named María
- The first son sometimes takes his father's surname
- All subsequent children take their mother's surname or
a combination of mother's and father's
- In a family there can be multiple Marías. However, if
you encounter multiple Manuels, Josés, Franciscos, or Rosas, it means the
first one has died.
In summary, you could
say that there ARE rules and traditions used in the naming of our Azorean
ancestors. Some, like the practice of only being recorded with a given name but
no surname at baptism, are fast and hard rules. Just about everything else,
though, as far as naming practices, follows some basic rules or ways of doing
things. But, those rules are so often broken that you may not consider them to
be rules at all! Hopefully, with this information, you are now armed with some
knowledge and understanding of the process that will make your research less
frustrating and more rewarding.
