Articles > NamesPortuguese Names 1350-1450
by Juliana de Luna (Julia Smith)
© 1998, all rights reserved.
Information about Iberian naming practices, and particularly Portuguese
naming practice, is relatively difficult to find in English. This article
makes available information about Portuguese names in the early fifteenth
century.
Fernam Lopez (modern Fernão) is one of the better known of the Portuguese
chroniclers. During the first quarter of the fifteenth century, he wrote
three great chronicles, covering the reigns of three kings:
- Cronica de dom Pedro I (The Chronicle of King Pedro I, who reigned 1357-1367)
- Cronica de dom Fernando I (reigned 1367-1383)
- Cronica de dom Joham I (The Chronicle of King João I, reigned 1385-1433)
These three chronicles have been published in translation (the first into
French and the second two partially translated into English) with a
transcription of the original Portuguese side by side. This allows the
analysis of names in their original forms
[1].
These chronicles provide a glimpse into Portuguese naming practice vastly
different from modern Portuguese, in some ways far more similar to
Spanish. The names of 191 Portuguese men were identified in these
chronicles. The names of over 200 men from Castille, Aragon, England, and
other places were excluded from the sample. The large number of foreign
names reflects the emphasis of the chronicle on public events,
specifically the wars between Pedro of Castille and John of Gaunt, the
English prince who pressed a claim to the Castillian throne on behalf of
his wife, a Spanish princess. Likewise, names that do not refer to real
people alive at the time (saints, fictional characters) have been excluded
from the data.
The actual names from the text can be found at
on a separate page.
Given Names
Men's Names
The 191 individuals share only 24 names, though these names are found in a
variety of forms (with a single individual's name often spelled multiple
ways). Joham, the most common name, accounts for 21% of
individuals, and the top 5 names account for 56% of individuals. The
masculine given names are listed below in order of frequency. Variant
forms are listed in declining order of frequency; counting the number of
individuals with each form is not feasible since the names of some
individuals take more than one form.
1. | Joham, Johan, Johane, Johanne | 40 | (21%) |
2. | Gonçallo, Gomçallo | 22 | (12%) |
3. | Martim, Martym, Martinho, Martimho | 16 | (8%) |
4. | Alvaro, Alvoro | 15 | (8%) |
5. | Fernam, Fernanado, Feram | 13 | (7%) |
6. | Affonso, Afonsso, Affonso, Afonso | 11 | (6%) |
| Lourenço, Louremço, Loureço | 11 | (6%) |
| Vaasco | 11 | (6%) |
9. | Rrui, Rui, Ruy | 9 | (5%) |
10. | Pedro, Pero | 7 | (4%) |
11. | Gomez | 5 | (3%) |
| Nuno | 5 | (3%) |
| Rodrigo | 5 | (3%) |
14. | Diego, Diogo | 4 | (2%) |
| Gill, Gil | 4 | (2%) |
16. | Lopo | 3 | (2%) |
17. | Airas, Ayras | 2 | (1%) |
| Hanrrique | 2 | (1%) |
One mention each: Antam, Bernaldom, Denis, Estançinho, Estevam,
Lançarote.
Women's Names
Women are less frequently mentioned in chronicles, due to their bias toward
men and people in the public view. Nonetheless, in these chronicles, 35
Portuguese women and 33 foreign (mostly Castillian) women were mentioned.
The 35 Portuguese women had the following names (in alphabetical order):
Briatiz, Beatriz, Betriz | 5 |
Enes | 5 |
Lianor, Lionor | 3 |
Maria | 3 |
Tareija, Tareyja | 3 |
Aldonça | 1 |
Biringeira | 1 |
Branca | 1 |
Catalina | 1 |
Costança | 1 |
Isabell | 1 |
Mayor | 1 |
Sancha | 1 |
Violante | 1 |
All of these names are well attested in the Spanish kingdoms. A few
alternate spellings for these names can be documented by looking at the
names of foreign women.
- Isabell is also spelled Isabel, Issebel,
Issabell, and Issabel
- Costança is also spelled Comstamça
- Catelina is also spelled Catellina
Bynames
Men's bynames are comparatively complex. Of 191 men, 28 have no byname
given in the text. Some are identified only by a given name because they
are members of the royal family; others are unimportant people mentioned
only in passing, and it is possible that the author simply did not know
their byname. Of those who have bynames, about half have single element
bynames and about half have two element bynames. From the text, there are
few clues to distinguish hereditary surnames from individual bynames. The
few indications from the text suggest that some people were using
hereditary surnames, while others were using individual bynames. This is
similar to the situation in Spain at the same time: some individuals were
using true patronymic bynames, while others were using inherited
patronymic surnames.
The frequency of different types of bynames is as follows:
| |
| |
No Byname: | 28 | (15%) |
Single Element Byname: | 83 | (43%) |
| Patronymic ending in ez | 40 |
| Patronymic uninflected | 11 |
| Locative with de | 10 |
| Other | 22 |
Two Element Byname: | 80 | (42%) |
| Patronymic ending in ez + locative | 42 |
| Uninflected patronymic + locative | 16 |
| Other | 22 |
Patronymic Bynames
There are two forms that patronymic bynames take in Portuguese, similar to
the situation in Spanish. The form is determined by the father's name.
In the more common form, the final vowel of the name is replaced with
-ez. Most scholars consider that this is derived from the Latin
genitive form. A smaller group of names are used as patronymic bynames
without being modified in any way. In this data, 94 individuals (49%) had
as one of their bynames a patronymic bynames ending in -ez, while 33
(17%) individuals had a patronymic byname that was not altered.
The following table includes names and their patronymic forms. Names in
brackets [] are not found in the texts, though all are documented in
Portugal. Among the bracketed named, ones marked with a star * are
from the late twelfth century; the unstarred names are from the sixteenth
century.
Name |
Patronymic form |
Affonso | Affonso |
Airas | [Airas] |
Alvaro | Alvarez |
[Andre] | André |
Diego | Diaz |
[Domingos] | Dominguez |
Estavam | Estevez, Stevez |
Fernam | Fernandez |
Gill | Gill |
Gonçallo | Gonçallvez |
Gomez | Gomez |
[Goterre] | Goterrez |
Hanrrique | [Anrriquez] |
Joham | Eannes |
Lopo | Lopez |
Lourenço | Lourenço |
Martim | Martinez |
[Mateus] | Mateus |
*[Meen] | Meendez |
Nuno | Nunez |
[Paullo] | Paulo |
Pero,Pedro | Perez |
Rodrigo | Rodriguez |
Rui | [Ruyz] |
*[Sancho] | Sanchez |
Vaasco | Vaasquez |
[Vincente] | Vincente |
Locative bynames
The second common type of byname is a locative byname, which normally takes
the form "de (of) <placename>". These names are somewhat
less common in Portuguese at the time than in Spanish; however, 70
individuals (37%) have a locative byname, either alone or following a
patronymic byname. Patronymic bynames seem to have played several roles.
Some seem to be hereditary surnames referring to the residence or history
of the family. Others seem to be individual bynames, describing where the
person was born or lives.
In Portuguese, de comes in a variety of forms. It is often elided with
the word following it. When it elides with an article (like the, it
agrees with the name that follows it in gender and number. Feminine
placenames are more likely to be marked than masculine placenames.
Therefore, we find the following forms:
de (can be used with anything) | 34 |
d' (before vowel) | 17 |
do (before a masculine word) | 6 |
da (before a feminine word) | 11 |
dos (before a masculine plural) | 0 |
das (before a feminine plural) | 3 |
Other Bynames
A variety of bynames that do not fit into the previous categories are
found. Some are individual bynames, such as Ovelho "the
old". Others are old surnames that are found both in Spanish and in
Portuguese.
Complex Bynames
Almost half the people with bynames have a two element byname. The
majority (73%) have names that combine a patronymic as the first element
with a locative as the second element. The remainder combine either a
patronymic or a locative element with an element that is neither.
Women's Bynames
Many of the women, especially royal women, are mentioned with only a
single name. However, 13 of the women have bynames listed.
| | |
No Byname: | 18 |
Single Element Byname: | 12 |
| Patronymic ending in ez | 3 |
| Patronymic uninflected | 1 |
| Locative with de | 4 |
| Other | 4 |
Two Element Byname: | 5 |
| Patronymic ending in ez + locative | 3 |
| Uninflected patronymic + locative | 0 |
| Other | 2 |
Women's bynames are somewhat more simple than men's names (only 14% of
women but 42% of men have two element bynames). However, all of the same
types of names are found.
Notes
[1]
Fernão Lopes. The English in Portugal, 1367-1387: Extracts from
the Chronicles of Dom Fernando and Dom João with an
introduction, translation, and notes by Derek W. Lomax and R. J.
Oakley (Warminster, UK: Aris and Phillips, Ltd., 1988). Unfortunately, the
extracts in this source are not complete, but I have not yet located a
complete copy of these to include the rest of them.
Fernão Lopes. Chronique du Roi D. Pedro
I / Crónica do Rei D. Pedro I (transcribed Giuliano Macchi,
translation to French and notes Jaqueline Steunou). Éditiones du
Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, 1985.
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