In the parish registers in the 18th century it was not uncommon to add the person's profession to the last name (without commas) in order to distinguish António Carvalho Alfaiate from António Cavalho Pedreiro and António Carvalho Serralheiro, all living in the same village in the same time period and maybe married to women all named Maria de Jesus. Alfaiate, Pedreiro and Serralheiro are not their family names although sometimes these names became the alcunhas for their children and their decendants. Sometims people think they have hit a brick wall in tracing back because they look for a marriage of António Carvalho Pedreiro and Maria de Jesus, (which they cannot find) when they should be looking for the marriage of Antonio Carvalho, a stone mason, and Maria de Jesus, a houswife. John Miranda Raposo
________________________________ From: celeste perry <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 7:03 PM Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] First, middle names for Azorean people Denis, I believe this is the reason the "nick-names" came into use. One Manuel lived and he was called, "Manuel from the end of the road." I don't know the Portuguese word for end of the road; however, I think you can see one way of identifying one Manuel. As for the Maria thing for the girls, I feel that 90 percent of girls were named Maria and once they were old enough to move about the village, they used their first and middle name or sometimes just their middle name that might be less common. Celeste, Hayward, CA Celeste Perry [email protected] ________________________________ From: Denis Meals <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 12:50 PM Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] First, middle names for Azorean people Listers: I read with interest the recent discussion regarding the 'end-of-the-line' surnames. Dano on 1 Oct. spoke to this, and I second his comments. However, I now have a question to pose to our listers, and ask for their opinions. Azorean first and second names seem to be restricted to only perhaps 12 commonly used, i.e. Manoel, Jose, Antonio, Joao, Maria, Jacintha, Joaquina, Umbelina, being perhaps most common. Given that most families had many children means that within a community, there would have been many named Manoel, for example. For the older still unmarried, at least several named Manoel Jose or Maria Jacintha. How then did they distinguish between the many same-named individuals within their immediate community, as well as adjacent villages? Denis-- 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, log into your Google account and 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." -- 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, log into your Google account and 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." -- 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, log into your Google account and 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."
