Hi Mickey, Here's an article that Kathy Cardoza and I co-wrote together on Portuguese naming practices: https://goo.gl/4aU6sP
We don't mention "foreign" names in our article, as "foreign" is only from the view point of another country. Many Portuguese would consider "Williams" to be foreign. James Guill in "A History of the Azores Islands" has a list of surnames with their origin. It was reprinted in the American Portuguese Genealogical and Historical Society. They are no longer around and Guill's book is out of print. Many of us have a copy and will look up surnames for you. I haven't made a list of where the surname came from, but I do find the vast majority come from parents or grandparents. I wouldn't limit myself to grands though. They could pick it from wherever. Some surnames I didn't figure out. You are going to have to work the records back. It will state if a parent was from a different island or country. It will take a lot of work. I've never traced one of my non-Portuguese based surnames to another country. I ran out of records in the Azores. I got one line to Madeira and a couple of lines to Portugal. If you get a real good line, you'll find out that you go to Charlemagne, but we all go back to him. Good luck, Cheri Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada On Tue, Feb 6, 2018 at 1:37 AM, Mickey Blue <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, I've read online a bit about Portuguese naming practices. One > article about the subject mentioned "Foreign names" used in Portuguese > family names, and mentioned for example Bettencourt and it also Avila > (citing it as being of Spanish origin). The article also mentioned that > surnames could come from either parent or grandparent for that matter, but > no further removed. My great great grandfather was Manuel Jacinto Avila, > his father, was Domingos Antonio ( according to church records for my great > grandfather Manuel Jacinto's birth, so I imagine the name came from his > mother, or a grandparent). I cannot find birth records in Azores for Manuel > Jacinto Avila or Domingos Antonio. I'm thinking that could be because they > migrated from Spain. Can anyone suggest how I could establish if that was > true? > > This is a great discussion group and I have displayed my ignorance in > family research in the past, but everyone has been very forgiving and most > helpful, especially Cheri and I thank you all. > > Warm regards > Michael > > -- > 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 https://groups.google.com/group/azores. > -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/azores.
