Sorry, i forgot to say, why do I see many times PT descendents in the US adopting this kind of surname? DeMelo DeSousa DeSilva or DaSilva etc
On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 7:08 PM, Ricardo Chaves <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > all that is called evolution! It has been "happening" here as time goes > by! I sure would find awkward if my name was Xaves instead of Chaves or > Joseph instead of José, or Joachim instead of Joaquim, etc. > > If you are registered with a prefix in your name, you cannot simply > decide to "throw" it away. I am DA PONTE CHAVES, and legally in Portugal, > DA PONTE is part of my grandfather's surname. > > To be able to sign my name with out the prefix "DA" I had to request that > to "Registo" Civil, and ONLY in the signature, not in the government > system, Da is still part of my name in the ID card. > > For those who have born, I would say, in the past 100 years, and their > parents chose to remove the prefix from their inherited names, will > continue to be a Chaves or Sousa etc. even with out it, the prefix was > there for ages. > > Portuguese is an evolution of Latin as you probably all know, and names, > or should I say, surnames, either than those from royalty, also have > certain origins. Don't have for granted that for example "Jon doe da Fonte" > 400 years ago an ascendent of Jon doe de Fontes" 200 years later. > > PS: Cheri, there people here still using their original ascendent names, > including Mello with 2 L! :-) > > > > > > > On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 5:53 PM, Cheri Mello <[email protected]> wrote: > >> HI Eliseu, >> >> Try to explain that to people who immigrated to America a while ago and >> went to American schools. Roll call...and their names are in the D >> section! They seriously think their name begins with a D and they look at >> me like I'm crazy when I try to explain the pre-surname thing. >> >> But if we all did alphabetize by de, da, do, d'....then a very large >> portion of Portuguese people would have surnames beginning with D! That >> would be very strange! >> >> One of the tech help guys at The Master Genealogist was a De Silva. That >> drove me nuts. It IS his legal name in America and they immigrated a long >> time ago. And his Da got corrupted into a De. And Hawaii is a whole >> different story because their spellings really got changed around. >> >> And I suppose people look at my name over in the Azores and think I can't >> spell. Actually, I know that they think that. When I used to write the >> archives, they wrote back to me as a Melo, not Mello. At my local >> Portuguese hall, they also spell my name Melo. I know how to spell my >> legal name and I know that he emigrated in 1903 before the spelling change >> and that I carry the "old" spelling. I just go with the flow. >> >> But yes, searches in Portuguese databases need to be done without >> de/da/do/d' and in American searches, try it every which way you can! >> >> Cheri Mello >> Listowner, Azores-Gen >> Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das >> Tainhas, Achada >> >> -- >> For 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." >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Azores Genealogy" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. >> > > > > -- > Ricardo Chaves > > -- Ricardo Chaves -- For 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." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
