Curious thing about Portuguese surnames. They are inconsistent at best and downright frustrating most of the time. Surname research is out of the question because you can’t depend on any consistency. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Josefa de Mello’s surname turned out to be completely different than the name on her son’s marriage record….
Tag: naming practices
We are not all related
I hate to break the news, but genealogically speaking we are not all related. Oh, sure, depending on what you believe we have Adam and Eve or Lucy in our past. But, when it comes to genealogy research connecting us all is impossible. Even connecting everyone in the same town of village would be hard…
I thought that was a Native American name!
Often times while researching, I’m humbled by my lack of knowledge of word roots and naming traditions. Several years ago while working in Azorean records, I came across a name that made my laugh. Geronimo! I don’t know why, but I really thought this was a Native American name. There is the famous Apache, Geronimo,…
What did that V stand for?
When searching through social security death records I noticed something peculiar. Many of my Portuguese Hawaiian male relatives born between 1880 and 1910 had middle initials. I found this peculiar because the Portuguese didn’t use middle names. What was even stranger was when I asked their close relatives about the middle initial. It seemed they…