It was usually women showing their devotion to the Virgin Mary. With so many women named Maria, these religious names helped distinguish them from one another. It seems everyone wanted to show religious devotion. These weren't necessarily surnames in the modern sense, but just how the women were known during those times. In some cases, these became de-facto surnames found in modern families of Portuguese descent. I believe that their parents chose the name most of the time, but I've also found some women would change their name over the course of their life so that it wasn't just Maria da Conceição, but sometimes also Maria de Jesus in other records.
On Friday, February 28, 2014 6:21:14 AM UTC-5, carmen furtado wrote: > > Why do just women have names with "da Conceição," "de Jesús," "do > Coração," etc.? > > I noticed that these names were not on their baptismal records. > > Were they First Communion or Confirmation names? > > Did they or their parents chose the names? > > Thanks. > > Carmen > > > > > > > -- For 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. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
