Early Portuguese Names
Articles > Names
Early Portuguese Names
by Juliana de Luna (Julia Smith,
julias@alumni.pitt.edu)
July 2001
The names below come from a few of the earliest documents written in
Portuguese, which date to around 1200. The transcriptions were found in
Early Romance Texts: An Anthology (Rodney Sampson, ed., Cambridge
University Press, 1980). A few names are still Latinized
(Gonsaluus, Menendus), but most are clearly vernacular forms.
While the sample is too small to make statistical generalizations, some
general trends can be noted. A wide variety of names are found, suggesting
that no particular name was excessively popular. The vast majority of
bynames are patronymics, identifying the person's father, e.g.
Sanchiz "child of Sancho".
Portuguese uses several diacritical marks, most of which should be reproduced properly below: c-cedilla as in Ramiriç, o-tilde as in Gõcauo, a-tilde as in the middle of Ferrnãndiç. The standard fonts don't include i-tilde so it is represented as i~ in the name Marti~ below. C-cedilla is pronounced like English s. The tilde indicates a nasal vowel, as in Modern French quand, vin, and bon.
Feminine Names
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Masculine Names
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