Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Some Portuguese Surnames and Their Meanings

Here are some popular Portuguese surnames and their meanings:


Afonso - noble, ready for battle


Aguiar - haunt of eagles

Alberto - noble, bright

Albuquerque - white oak tree

Alcantara - arch or bridge

Aldeia - village

Alemao - German

Almeida - plateau

Alvares - all true

alves - all true

Amaral - black grapes

Ambrose - nectar

Amor - love

Andrade - estate of a man named Andreas

Aranaha - spider

Aurora - dawn

Baptista - wash

Azevedo - Someone who lives near holly bushes

Barboz - one who lives in bushes

Barcelos - a city in Portugal

Barco - Boat

Barnes - One who works at a barn

Barreto - mud

Barros - someone who lives on a patch of clay soil

Benedicto - Blessed

Benjamin - southerner, son of the south

Bennis - blessed

Bento - holy

Bacardo - A logical way of arguing

Botelho - A gatherer of seaweeds

Branco - white

Bruno - brown

Caeiro - lime maker

Caiado - whitewashed

Calado - quiet

Caldeira - cauldron

Calisto - unlucky

Camara - room

Campos - open land

Cardinho - small thistle

Cardoso - one who lives on a land of thistles

Caridade - charity

carlos - man

Carmo - orchard

Carneiro - sheep

Carrasco - hangman, executioner

Carvalho - oak tree

Castanha - chestnut

Castelino - castle

Catao - austere man

Cavaco - peeler

Cereja - cherry

Chico - small

Clement - merciful

Coelho - rabbit

Colaco - foster brother

Coma - head with hair

Conceicao - conception

Concesso - permitted

Corda - rope

Cordeiro - lamb

Cordo - wise

Correia - leather strap

Corte - cut

Cortez - polite

Costa - remark

Coutinho - small shelter

Couto - shelter

Crasta - courtyard

Crasto - palace

Criado - foster child

Cruz - Cross

Cunha - wedge

Dantas - someone who lives near pillers

Delgado - a thin person

Dias - days

Diniz - follower

Dourado - golden

Dourte - forture guard

Egipsy - Egyptian

Esperance - hope

Eseves - crown

Facho - torch

Falcao - hawk

Felizardo - lucky

Ferndinando - brave expedition

Fernandes -brave expedition

Ferrao - sting

Ferraz - fruitful

Ferreira - sea-bream

Fialho - fine thread

Figueira - fig tree

Figueiredo - orchard of fig trees

Fonseca - stream

Fores - strong

Fragoso - craggy

Francisco - Frenchman

Franco - free

Freitas - rocky ground

Frias - cold

Furtado - stolen

Gama - doe

Gomes - man

Gonsalves - safe bottle

Gouveia - city of Portugal

Gracias - charming

Granjo long-legged

Guarda - guard

Guia - guide

Guiao - banner

Henriques - home power

Heredia - ancestral estates

Jacques - He will trip by the heel

Joanes - Yahweh is gracious

Joao - Yahweh is gracious

Jorge - farmer

Lacerda - thick haired person

Lazarus - may God help him

Leitao - a sucking ping

Leite - milk

Lemos - elm

Lewis - fame war

Lima - a file

Lobato - small wolf

Lobo - wolf

Lopes - wolf

Lourenco - a town in Italy

Louzado - made o flat stones

Loyola - a city of Spain

Luis - French gold coin

Machado - axe

Madeira - timber

Marcal - war god

Marques - someone who lives near a boundary

Martha/Madtha - weasel

Martins - Roman god of war

Mascarenhas - Umbrella

Matias - gift of God

Melo - black bird

Mendes - entire tribute

Mendocna - a cold mountain

Menezes - battlement

Mergulhao - a wine branch turned bow shape

Mesquita - mosque

Messias - annointed

Milagres - miracle

Miranda - lovely

Monserrate - a city of Spain

Monte - hill

Moneiro - hunter

Morais/Moras - One who lives near mulberry rush

Moreira - mulberry tree

Murzello - black colour

Nazareth/Nazare - to guard

Neto - grandson

Nogueira - someone who lives near walnut tree

Norris - northerner

Norton - enclosure

Novais - land recently cleared

Olivera - Olive tree

Ozorio - mountain

Pacheco - fat man

Pais sea

Paiva - someone living by the river Paiva in Portugal

Paixao - Passion

Palha - straw

Palmeira - palm tree

Parado - stopped

Parras - someone who lives by an enclosure

Patrao - Patron

Paula - small

Pegado - glued

Peixoto - a kind of fish

Penha - rock

Pereira - grower or seller of pears

Peres/Pires - rock

Picardo - someone from Picardy in north France

Piedade - piety

Pimenta - pepper

Pinheiro - pine tree

Pinho - pine wood

Pinto - small chicken

Po - dust

Pontes - someone who lived near a bridge

Prazeres - joy

Proenca - province

Queiroz - a place in west Spain

Raposo - male fox

Rato - rat

Ratos - rats

Rebelo - a projecting strip of land

Rego - furro

Reis - small coin in Portugal

Remedios - remedy

Ribeiro - someone who lives near a river

Ricardo - strong power

Rivera - river

Rocha - rock

Rodrigues - renown power

Rosa - rose

Rosario - rosary

Sa - someone employed at a manor house

Sacrafamilia - holy family

Salem - salutation

Sales - salty

Sanches - saint

Santis - holy

Santa Maria - Holy Mary

Santomaior - great saint

Santos - saint

Sardinha - sardine

Seixas - someone who lives by a patch of dry land

Serra - someone who lives on hills

Silva - someone who lives in wood

Silvano - wood

Silveira - someone who lives in a wood

Simoes - yahweh has heard

Soares - a person with a reddish hair

Sobrinho - nephew

Sousa/souza - salt marsh

Tauro - bull

Teixeira - someone who lives near yew tree

Teles - saddle cloth

Torrado - toasted

Torres - tower

Trindade - trinity

Tuscano - someone from Tuscany in Italy

Vales - valley

Varela - stick

Veiga - meadow

Velho - advanced in years

Veloso - hairy

Vieira - scallop

Xavier - a new house

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