RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] MAIATO surname

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 10:04:33 -0700

Hi Margaret,

That's the best definition of an alcunha I've seen.

My grandfather from Terceira was said to have the alcunha "cebola branca" (white onion) referring to his blonde hair. And I believe his father had the same alcunha. But I have never seen it mentioned in any records, so it's strictly passed down by word of mouth.

Thanks,

Doug da Rocha Holmes
Sacramento, California
Pico & Terceira Genealogist
916-550-1618
www.dholmes.com


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] MAIATO surname
From: Margaret Vicente <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, June 08, 2013 5:55 am
To: azores <[email protected]>

Hi,

There's no correlation in between the  words maiato and mulato.  A further search in google turned up a referential work by the the Minho University.   The name is described as an alcunha/nick toponymic of or from the place of MAIA.

"Maiato MF Proveniente da Maia"
Link: 

Reference:
Citação deste texto publicado: 
Teixeira, José, 2007, “Metonímias e metáforas no processo de referência por alcunhas do 
Norte de Portugal”, Diacrítica Série Ciências da Linguagem, nº 21/1, Universidade do 
Minho, Braga, pp. 207-239. 
Metonímias e metáforas 
no processo de referência por alcunhas do Norte de Portugal 
José Teixeira 
ILCH - Universidade do Minho 

Abstract 
The Portuguese word “alcunha” means a non-voluntary nickname, sometimes with 
pejorative meaning and usually used in small localities. The main purpose of this kind of 
nicknames is to capture a detail that makes possible a quick identification, in other words, to 
stress a salient characteristic conducting to an easy referring process. 
In this way, the nickname’s social-linguistic strategy can show us the relevance of 
metaphor and, above all, of metonymy as cognitive processes with a great variation of 
linguistic strategies and forms.  

Margaret


On Sat, Jun 8, 2013 at 2:09 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:
I forgot to look at Guill's list. My copy is buried somewhere in a box I have not brought back into daylight since moving. But that's very interesting. But the other name, Malato, is then what must be questioned. Yea, it sure sounds similar to "mulato" and that would surely be an alcunha imposed by others, not so willingly adopted for use, I wouldn't think. Malato has a Latin ring to it - maybe some Italian origin.

I have ancestors from Pico named MAIA. And some ancestors from Terceira named MAIO. And I see a noble family MAIA who is described as "Vedor do Rei João I, 1º senhor da Trofa" that seems to have descendants in Terceira. Maybe there is some linguistic explanation for how Maia could become Maiato. But that neglects the Malato derivation information from Guill.

Thanks to the others who mention ancestors and friends with this name.
It is far more common than I suspected - just not on Pico or Terceira!

Doug da Rocha Holmes
Sacramento, California
Pico & Terceira Genealogist
916-550-1618


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] MAIATO surname
From: "Richard Francis Pimentel" <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, June 07, 2013 9:59 pm
To: <[email protected]>

Maiato is listed as a surname by James Guill and it gives a Derivation as Malato. Could that refer or mean mixed race? If so then the name could have started as an alcunha.
 
Rick
 
Richard Francis Pimentel
Spring, TX
Formerly of Epping, New Hampshire
 
Researching, Riberia Grande, Riberinha, Achada Grande,  Bretanha, and Ponta Delgada,  Sao Miguel, Acores
 
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Margaret Vicente
Sent: Friday, June 07, 2013 6:54 PM
To: azores
Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] MAIATO surname
 
Hey there Doug,
 
Maiato is not an alcunha.  It is a surname and I have close friends who bear that name from Sao Miguel Island.  
 
Regards
 
Margaret
 
 
On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 5:51 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
I don't know about you, but I get used to the names in each village and sort of want them to be the same now as they were 100+ years ago. So when I visited places on my trips to the Azores, I felt a little more alien than I thought I would. If I had seen all the same names I got used to seeing in the old records, I think I would have felt right at home more.
 
I think of this because I have a picture of a tombstone from Pico of a lady named MAIATO.
I never heard of this name and perhaps feel a little out of touch since it's a name on Pico that I know so well.
But I know it only from 100 years ago and not the present time.
 
I also found one Maiato on Terceira, but the rest seem to be from Sao Miguel. Maybe someone on this list will recognize this surname. I thought I detected a little Oriental look and figured maybe it's a Chinese family that settled on Pico and then made their name sound more Portuguese.
 
Of course, modern mobility accounts for this transformation in the populations for each village and island.
It would not be so surprising to find German and Swedish people settling in the Azores these days, having children who are baptized as Catholics, etc. After all, many notable foreign families did this in the past few centuries, like DART, DABNEY, STREET, STONE, ZERBONE, etc. And then there are many others who came but left little mark.
 
And now there is MAIATO. I wonder about their origins. It's a relatively rare name in Portuguese these days. Everyone I see in Ancestry.com seems to have Portuguese origins. Is it an alcunha?
 
Doug da Rocha Holmes
Sacramento, California
Pico & Terceira Genealogist
916-550-1618
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