Sorry, i forgot to say, why do I see many times PT descendents in the US adopting this kind of surname? DeMelo DeSousa DeSilva or DaSilva etc
On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 7:08 PM, Ricardo Chaves <chave...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > all that is called evolution! It has been "happening" here as time goes > by! I sure would find awkward if my name was Xaves instead of Chaves or > Joseph instead of José, or Joachim instead of Joaquim, etc. > > If you are registered with a prefix in your name, you cannot simply > decide to "throw" it away. I am DA PONTE CHAVES, and legally in Portugal, > DA PONTE is part of my grandfather's surname. > > To be able to sign my name with out the prefix "DA" I had to request that > to "Registo" Civil, and ONLY in the signature, not in the government > system, Da is still part of my name in the ID card. > > For those who have born, I would say, in the past 100 years, and their > parents chose to remove the prefix from their inherited names, will > continue to be a Chaves or Sousa etc. even with out it, the prefix was > there for ages. > > Portuguese is an evolution of Latin as you probably all know, and names, > or should I say, surnames, either than those from royalty, also have > certain origins. Don't have for granted that for example "Jon doe da Fonte" > 400 years ago an ascendent of Jon doe de Fontes" 200 years later. > > PS: Cheri, there people here still using their original ascendent names, > including Mello with 2 L! :-) > > > > > > > On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 5:53 PM, Cheri Mello <gfsche...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> HI Eliseu, >> >> Try to explain that to people who immigrated to America a while ago and >> went to American schools. Roll call...and their names are in the D >> section! They seriously think their name begins with a D and they look at >> me like I'm crazy when I try to explain the pre-surname thing. >> >> But if we all did alphabetize by de, da, do, d'....then a very large >> portion of Portuguese people would have surnames beginning with D! That >> would be very strange! >> >> One of the tech help guys at The Master Genealogist was a De Silva. That >> drove me nuts. It IS his legal name in America and they immigrated a long >> time ago. And his Da got corrupted into a De. And Hawaii is a whole >> different story because their spellings really got changed around. >> >> And I suppose people look at my name over in the Azores and think I can't >> spell. Actually, I know that they think that. When I used to write the >> archives, they wrote back to me as a Melo, not Mello. At my local >> Portuguese hall, they also spell my name Melo. I know how to spell my >> legal name and I know that he emigrated in 1903 before the spelling change >> and that I carry the "old" spelling. I just go with the flow. >> >> But yes, searches in Portuguese databases need to be done without >> de/da/do/d' and in American searches, try it every which way you can! >> >> Cheri Mello >> Listowner, Azores-Gen >> Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das >> Tainhas, Achada >> >> -- >> 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. >> > > > > -- > Ricardo Chaves > > -- Ricardo Chaves -- 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.
