Hi Anthony, I can't speak for every place in the Azores but I can speak to you about the use of alcunhas in Lajes do Pico. My father frequently talks about people from the old country he lived there until his early 30's and usually refers them by their alcunha seldom by their surname most families were known by an alcunha and they were usually passed down along the paternal line just like a surname in the United States, surnames however were inconsistently passed down. Surnames are even today seldom used in everyday conversation I suspect due to so many people sharing common surnames. If you walked into a village and asked for Manuel Cardoso most people wouldn't have any idea who you were talking about even though that may be that person's official surname, But if you asked for Manuel Melao(Melon) or Manuel Pombo(Pigeon) someone would figure out who you were talking about. Interestingly those are actual alcunhas for two different Cardoso lines.
I've looked at the information from the Rol dos Confesados for 1883(This information was collected by the parish priest and documents all those of age to confess by household) and found some interesting alcunhas for some of mine and my wife's line's. Some I am able to translate, two are also used as surnames by some families Bonito(Handsome) and Craveiro others I found are Touro(Bull), Toucinho(bacon), Caipiras(Countrified, the American version I think would be Redneck), Zarigo, Burrinha(Donkey), Carocha(Bug), Zidro, Pe de Galinha(Chicken Foot, very interesting!) I have also noticed that some of my lines didn't have alcunhas recorded for some reason especially the one's that owned more property. I'm curious if anyone else would care to share their families alcunhas. Antonio On Thursday, September 18, 2014 2:44:17 PM UTC-7, Anthony Martin wrote: > > I've been searching through various guides about Portuguese naming > practices, but I haven't found anything related to this question. > > My mother-in-law is a Parreira, but she has mentioned that it is common > for families to have nicknames. For example, someone by the name of Antonio > Parreira may be known as a 'Galante' yet the surname 'Galante' is no where > to be found. Other nicknames I've come across are what appear to be > 'rrabola' and 'Ilhars'. > > Does anyone have an explanation for this? > -- 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.
