A Page From the Boke: Late Period Portuguese Names Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Uckelman), [email protected] Permission is granted to copy and distribute this article without let or hindrance to anyone, so long as the author’s name and email address is included on the copy.
1 Introduction 1. Antonio, Antão, Antan TABLE 1: PATRONYMIC BYNAMES This article is the third in a mini- 2. Johão, Johan, Joan, João, No Name Patronymics series where I discuss at a rudi- Joham, Joam, Johane, John 1. Antonio, Antão, Antan Antunnez, Antonio, Antão, Antonio mentary level the most common 3. Francisco, Francisquo, 2. Johão, Johan, Joan, João, Joham, Joam, Johane, John Anes, Eanes, Joanes naming practices of a specific cul- Françisquo, Franciscque, 3. Francisco, Francisquo, Françisquo, Franciscque, Françisco Francisco, Francisquo, Françisquo Françisco 4. Pero, Pedre, Pedro, Per Pirez, Peres, Perez, Pires, Pyrez ture. These guides are not meant 5. Dioguo, Diogo, Díoguo, Dyoguo Diaz, Dias, Diogo to be all-encompassing or conclu- 4. Pero, Pedre, Pedro, Per 6. Fernão, Fernan Fernandez, Ferannez, Ferrnandez sive, but rather provide a ‘skeleton’ 5. Dioguo, Diogo, Díoguo, 7. Manoel, Manoell, Manol, Manel, Manuell, Mannuell Manoel from which you can start building Dyoguo 8. Jorge Jorge your own name. These guides 6. Fernão, Fernan 9. Guaspar, Gaspar No patronymic based on this name found in this source deal only with the most common 7. Manoel, Manoell, Manol, 10. Simão, Symão Simões, Simoa types of naming practices in the Manel, Manuell, Mannuell This generally involves changing related to the word for ‘smith’, cultures under consideration; I 8. Jorge the end to -ez or -es, though Lobo (masculine)/Loba (feminine) will not be discussing obscure or 9. Guaspar, Gaspar there are some exceptions. In ‘wolf’, Pinto (masculine)/Pinta rare practices. In an effort to keep 10. Simão, Symão general, names that already end (feminine) ‘freckled’. Many each of these guides to a page or The 10 most common women’s in -s or -z don’t change spelling descriptive bynames take different less (for ease of photocopying and names are: when used as a patronymic. Table forms depending on whether they distribution to all interested – 1. Isabel 1 (above) shows the patronymics are used by women or men. each article will carry at the bot- 2. Maria, Marya formed from the masculine tom a disclaimer giving permis- 3. Caterina names listed above, listed in 5 Name constructions sion for said reproduction), many 4. Ana, Anna order of frequency. Because of the changes in the nam- details will be glossed over; how- 5. Briatiz, Britiz ing pool over the years, the names ever, I will try to provide refer- 6. Lianor, Lyanor 4.2 Locative bynames discussed here may not be appropri- ences for further information. 7. Margaida Standard locative bynames in ate for an earlier period. The same With these caveats in place, I’ll 8. Ines, Inez, Innes Portuguese are extremely easy to is true for name constructions. now discuss Portuguese names. form: Take a city in Portugal, 9. Antonia An overwhelming majority of the determine what it was called prior 2 Language 10. Francisca, Francisqua people in this document had a to 1600, and prepend de ‘of’ to The Iberian peninsula in prior to single given name and a single 4 Bynames the name of the city. If the name 1600 was not divided into fixed byname. I found no examples of There are three main types of begins with a vowel, de elides to countries each of which spoke a people with more than one given bynames found in this document: d’. Some commonly found loca- fixed language. The kingdoms name. It was not especially Patronymics (indicating the tive bynames include: d’Abreu, and principalities grew and shrank uncommon for someone to have bearer’s father’s given name), loca- d’Allmeida, de Crasto, de and changed significantly over our two bynames; when this was the tives (indicating the bearer’s city of Meneses, de Sousa. More exam- period of study, and the languages case, they were almost always a residence), and descriptives (refer- ples can be found in source [5]. changed with the same fluidity. ring to physical or other character- patronymic followed by a loca- Portuguese arose in the 12th cen- istics of the bearer). By the 16th 4.2 Descriptive nicknames tive, or a patronymic followed by tury, though it was never com- century, these bynames were not These descriptives can be based on a descriptive. Combining descrip- monly spoken outside of Portugal, always used literally (e.g., a man physical characteristics, occupa- tives with locatives, using more Galicia, and Portugal’s colonies. It named Antonio Fernandez might tional facts, or other noteworthy than two patronymics, or more persists in much the same form to have been the son of Johão features. Common ones in this than two descriptives were all very modern times. [1] The data that I Fernandez, not Fernão Pirez), but 16th century source include rare practices, and should not be am focusing on for this article is were sometimes used like modern Carvalho (masculine)/Carvalha used if you want a typical 16th from the mid-16th century. The day inherited surnames. So far as I (feminine) ‘an oak tree’, Correa ‘a century Portuguese name. main spelling differences that can can tell, the locative bynames and thong of leather’, Fereyra perhaps be seen is the preponderance of most of the descriptives were still