There is a normal order for surnames although it doesn't seem to be adhered to that religiously in all cases. The variables occur when (1) there are too many persons with the same name in a particular "freguesia" - that's when the "alcunha" is usually unceremoniously applied to the least of our brethren - as you've already discussed;
Of course, oftentimes people just dropped extra surnames as generations progressed - they were just known by the most prominent surname; As for other reasons for name selection: people of that era were driven essentially by the same things that people of this era are driven - power, wealth, and property. So, you might see an individual who knows that a relative of an earlier generation had one of these things, would position himself so that he could claim descendency from that individual, and thereby access the "good life," by tapping into that power, title or property. In the case of your ancestor, it seems that it might just have been more a matter of convenience than anything else. BTW, its not a good practice to anglicize names - are you sure of the spelling of "Louis?" If the name was, in fact, "Luiz (Luis)," and it was a surname, it might be a tipoff to the name of another branch of the family. -- -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
