I don't see see the big deal. Portugal has it own customs and culture and these things just happened, not in any formal sense. People have many names and sometimes they just get truncated. So over time, you may get to discover your ancestor's whole name. It may even include a nickname, which was common and part of the culture. I get this question all the time. It's because name usage was not that formal or rigid. Literacy was just beginning for the vast majority. But I will say when the devotional names became predominant they often make it difficult to ascertain which ancestor is really yours. I also find the more info and variations in name your ancestor has, the more it can come in handy when you have a difficult record to decipher, or decide whether it really is your ancestor. So what I do is keep one or two essential names and and make simple notes of the variations. I almost couldn't find my own Roia ancestor because he used the name Joao da Costa when he married, but thereafter, he never used it again. His children and grandchildren never used Costa either. It was Roia ever after- Amen!!
By the way, I think this ancestor of yours is in the archives under Manuel Bernardo Teixeira. I believe I discussed this line with someone and N. Teixeira. JR On Thursday, January 8, 2015 11:11:43 AM UTC-5, Cheri Mello wrote: > > I've seen women change their devotional name. Who knows...maybe she prayed > to the Holy Spirit after a hard labor and became Maria do Espirito Santo. > And then there are some that I just can't figure out. Maria de Jesus or > Maria Joaquina or Maria Julia? Is my ancestor having an identity crisis, or > did the priest mess up? Or is one her true name, another what family calls > her, or she just decided to change. All I can figure out about that > ancestor is that she liked the letter J. > Cheri > -- 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.
