I must say it is a mighty interesting question. JoeGoaUK asks further: ''have you got any clue ?''
I think to do justice to the topic one must go five centuries back i.e. around 1550s and 1560s when most convertions to Christianity took place namely in Bardez and Salcete talukas. In those days our Hindu ancestors propbably had only two names. his own followed by that of his father. May be the so called upper castes had another name added but that belonged to gotra or modki so that no marriages took place between close relatives. Marriages even between third degree cousins was a taboo. This was enshrined in Bapu, Azo, Ponzo ani Shenzo principle. (i.e. father, grandfather,grandfather and finally free from any encumbrance. Surnames is a purely western institution that was first brought to Indian shores by the Portuguese, If one finds surnames in Hindu society today they are mostly the names of villages they hail from. Thus Raikar, Lotlikar, Vernekar , Nagwemkar, and Kurtarkar means from the villages of Raia, Loutulim, Verna,Nagoa and Cortalim respectively. The names and surnames of Goan Catholics are purely Portuguese. randomly bestowed upon the new converts at mass baptisms.They must have run out of names and indulged in a bit of humour themselves by giving names like Anunciaccao, Aparicao, Ascencao, Assumcao, Circumcisao, Conceicao, Consolacao , Presentacao, Salvacao and Visitacao. In modern times names of Goan Catholics may not necessarily be of Portuguese extraction but surnames of most Goan Catholics definitely are in pure Portuguese form. And finally the most popular Goan surnames in decreasing order are : Fernandes, Sousa, Rodrigues, Pereira, Costa,Dias, Gomes, Silva, Rebello and Barreto. Antonio.
