Thank you Celeste, this is all helping. Now the names de Jesus and de Espirito Santa are not the surnames you're talking about, right?
Maria Elena On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 6:38 PM, celeste perry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > When I first encountered different surnames for children in the same > family, I, too, was thinking something was wrong. > > As I continued my research; sometimes the names were further back in the > line; sometimes, the names were the godparent's names. > > I told myself this made perfect sense (I have to make sense of things). If > you have just barely enough to feed your family, you want to give the child > the best chance to survive. If you die before the child is able to take > care of her/himself, you want to know someone will look out for the child. > Bingo, you give the child the name of the person who has more than 1 tree in > the "quinta" and know that there will be enough to feed the child and the > person whose name you gave your child will feel honored to look after your > child. > > This is how I rationalized the surname convention (or lack of one) for my > ancestors. I think my grandmother talked about this happening to people she > knew in the village where she was born. Celeste, Hayward, CA > > Celeste Perry [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
