Portuguese Names from Lisbon, 1565

by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Uckelman)

© renewed 2004 Sara L. Uckelman, all rights reserved
© 2002 Sara L. Friedemann
last update 28Dec04

The following are the names of men and women listed in a tax roll from Lisbon, 1565. The name elements are divided into masculine and feminine given names, sorted by frequency, and surnames, sorted by type and then alphabetically.

Overwhelmingly people had just one given name and one byname, e.g. Felipe Fernandez, Isabel Guomez, Antonio Valente. I found no examples of anyone having more than one given name.

The total number of people who had more than one byname makes up a very small fraction of the total number of recorded names. Of the people who had more than one byname, the most common combination was <patronymic> + <locative>, e.g. Antonia Diaz de Covilhão, Alvaro Rodriguez de Lamego, Briatiz Nunnez d'Almeyda or <patronymic> + <descriptive>, e.g. Dioguo Fernandez Brabanel, Antonio Lopez dos Cavalos, Guaspar Rodriguez Veloso.

Less common is <descriptive> + <locative>, e.g. Francisco Tinoquo do Algrave, and the least common of all are <patronymic> + <patronymic>, e.g. Johão Rodriguez Martinis, Dioguo Fernandez Martinz, <descriptive> + <descriptive>, e.g. Manoel Lobo Teixeyra, Johão Monis Cordeyro, and what appear to be compound locative bynames, e.g. Manoel de Quadros d'Arzilla, Johão do Sal d'Almeida, Antonio d'Allmeida de Braga, Fernão d'Espanha do Allgarve; as well as what appear to be <locative> + <descriptive>, e.g. Dioguo de Crasto Pachequo

Masculine Given Names    Feminine Given Names    Surnames

The author greatfully thanks Faerisa Gwynarden (Fernanda Gomes) for her help in glossing some of the descriptive bynames.

References