I am not sure I understand what you are saying either, but yes Randolph, this is a common practice in Spanish/Portuguese convention, and some other cultures as well. Children were commonly given two surnames, one from each parent. The middle name (1st surname) comes from the father's name (apellido paterno), and the last name (2nd surname) is the mother's maiden name (apellido materno). For example: Mozes son of Joseph PEREIRA and Abigail MENDOZA will appear as Mozes PEREIRA MENDOZA. Should Mozes PEREIRA MENDOZA marry Sarah LOPES SALZEDO, their son's name would be recorded as Gabriel PEREIRA SALZEDO. Sometimes these two surnames are reversed - first the mother's surname, and then the father's surname. Effectively the surname can change with every generation. It would appear that when families left Spain and Portugal, in accordance with local laws and conventions in the rest of Europe, they kept a single continuing surname giving rise to the vast number of LOPES SALZEDO and NUNES NABARRO records.
Lew > -----Original Message----- > From: k...@legacyfamilytree.com [mailto:k...@legacyfamilytree.com]on Behalf Of > Randolph Clark > Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 2:34 PM > To: legacyusergroup > Subject: [LegacyUG] order of names > > In what I viewed as trying to be helpful I fired off a quick note to an > Ancestry.com poster to let her know that she had reversed portions of my > cousins name. Below is part of her response: > > "The order of the names has to do with the Ancestry suggestion that runs > throughout my extensive trees and is common in the US. The important for > genealogy reasons "maiden name" is placed at the end and any married last > names placed after the first name." > > Has anyone ever heard of this? > > Legacy User Group guidelines: > > http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp > Archived messages: > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ > Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp > To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
