Mangalorean Catholics’ Portuguese surnames: have they seen a few changes!
The Portuguese surnames inherited by the Mangalorean Catholics have evolved significantly over the last 150 years, for various reasons. Here, an attempt is made to shed some light on the circumstances surrounding this development—a development that could arguably be described as regrettable.
Did you know?
Written records indicate that, as early as the 10th century AD, the inhabitants of Lisbon and other locations in Portugal were assigned an alcunha—a precursor to family names. At that time, two-thirds of Portugal was under Islamic rule and formed part of the Caliphate of Córdoba. Since Portuguese was not a written language during this period, it borrowed many terms from Arabic, which served as the established written language. The word alcunha was one of many Arabic terms (al-kunya, الكنية) that became part of the Portuguese language. Centuries later, this word—in the form alkunz—made its way into Christian Konkani, where it is still used today to refer to a surname.
The Portuguese, much like other Europeans, began—around the start of the last millennium—to adopt a byname. If there was more than one John in the village, people naturally wanted to know exactly which John it was.
As one might imagine, bynames—which later became hereditary and came to be known as surnames—were of various kinds: patronyms (i.e. with suffix -es meaning ‘son of’), occupational names, references to a place of residence, personal traits (such as ‘short’), as well as toponyms (place names).
The use of patronyms such as Fernandes, Gonçalves, Mendes, Rodrigues may point to a Semitic link. It is identical to the Semitic form of ben/bin/ibn. Some Jewish scholars have concluded that many of these surnames were borne by Marranos—Sephardic Jews who converted to Christianity.
Why toponyms?
People moved from one place to another—often to secure their livelihood, or to escape war or famine. In their new place of residence, the person who had just arrived was then identified as originating from that previous town or region.
Toponyms have a very long tradition: It was common among the Jews, long before the time of Jesus, to identify individuals by using place names. The New Testament provides several examples of this: Mary Magdalene (Mary of Magdala), Paul of Tarsus (in present-day Turkey), Judas Iscariot (Judas of Kerioth), Joseph of Arimathea, Simon of Cyrene (in present-day Libya), Barnabas of Cyprus, and so on.
In Portugal and Brazil, it has been observed that certain Portuguese surnames found in overseas territories are extremely rare among the Portuguese themselves. In all likelihood, many of these names belonged to Jews who had converted to Christianity—a group that chose to leave Portugal and settle in the overseas territories. These observations, combined with the fact that a large number of high-ranking officials in India—notably in São Tomé de Meliapore (Mylapore, in present-day Chennai)—bore double toponyms as surnames, suggest that a significant portion of the early emigrants from Portugal may have had Jewish ancestry.
Furthermore, it should be noted that Jews were primarily engaged in commercial or artisanal activities, whereas the native Portuguese population consisted essentially of peasants; this likely made it easier for converted Jews—compared to the peasants—to emigrate to the overseas colonies.
By the mid-16th century, King of Portugal was firmly in control of a few territories on the subcontinent:
Goa, Daman, Diu and the lesser-known São Tomé de Meliapore. Portugal had a fort in Mangalore too.
Relying on questionable authority, the Archdiocese of Goa managed to impose its religious jurisdiction across the entire subcontinent and beyond. Various male religious orders—notably the Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Carmelites—, operating under the authority of the Archbishop of Goa, carried out their activities in Goa itself, along the Canara coast between Goa and the Kingdom of Cumbla, in regions inhabited by the St Thomas Christians, and elsewhere.
Just for the record, the Tulunad coastal area was known to the West Asians as Malabar; the early European colonial writers somehow assumed that Malabar lay to the south of Tulunad, and called the original Malabar as Canara. Sometime after the defeat of Tipu Sultan, Canara was divided into two regions: North Canara and South Canara. The former was attached to the Bombay Presidency of the English East India Company, while the latter—with Mangalore as its centre—was attached to the Madras Presidency.
In collaboration with state authorities, missionaries converted many people to Catholicism, notably in Goa. In keeping with the custom of the time, converts were given the surnames of those who had officiated—either as the member of the clergy performing the baptism or as a godfather, who was often a high-ranking lay official.
Was the spelling of Portuguese surnames already standardised before the end of the 18th century??
No. And this was primarily for two reasons:
- The language itself was not standardised: Although the literate population of Portugal had begun writing in Portuguese centuries earlier, the standardisation of the language did not occur until the start of the 20 th century. Consequently, due to dialectal differences, the same word was spelled differently depending on the region. This phenomenon led to the emergence of various spellings for one and the same surname.
- Issues related to recording: Until the 19th century, the majority of the population was illiterate; while individuals knew how their surname was pronounced, they were often unaware of how it was spelled. The person responsible for recording the surname in a document—for instance, in a baptismal register or during a real estate transaction—would determine its spelling at their own discretion. Thus, the surname de Sousa might be recorded in that form, or alternatively as de Souza. Another example is the surname Cardoso, which has been documented in various ways, including as Cardozo, Cardos, or Cardouxo.
Unfortunately for Portugal, and the rest of the Catholic countries in Europe, the standardisation of the Portuguese language would have been accomplished two centuries earlier had the Jesuits—who founded and ran educational institutions including many universities in Portugal, Brazil, and other territories—not been expelled from lands under Portuguese rule in 1759 by King Joseph I and his Prime Minister, the Marquis of Pombal.
It is said that Portugal—thanks to the extensive educational work of the Jesuits—was once on a par with non-Catholic Northern Europe in terms of education and science in the first half of the 18th century; it subsequently sank into illiteracy after the government’s imprudent decision turned out to be a wrecking ball on the entire educational system.
Between the 16 th and 18 th centuries, many Goans emigrated to Canara, with a significant number of them settling in the Mangalore region.
Several churches were erected, in which Portuguese priests (reporting to the Archdiocese of Goa) carried out their ministry.
It should also be noted that the Portuguese Crown maintained a presence in Mangalore until the era of Hyder Ali, operating a fort—the Fortaleza de São Sebastião de Mangalor—as well as at least one fortified warehouse. The fort levied a tax on every merchant vessel entering the estuary. There are indications that ships engaged in trade with Persia turned left into the Gurpur River, while those trading with Yemen headed toward the Netravati River.
There was also a Portuguese church inside the fortress—Nossa Senhora do Rosário—which was evidently served by Portuguese priests.
Given that Portuguese priests provided pastoral care for both converts and Portuguese Catholics in South Canara, the registers of baptisms, marriages, and deaths were undoubtedly maintained by priests with a sufficient command of the Portuguese language. Consequently, the spelling of surnames in these records was likely very uniform.
At the same time, direct papal administration (Propaganda Fide) gained momentum on the subcontinent. Verapoly (in present-day Kerala) had already been established as a Vicariate Apostolic and placed under the charge of the Order of Discalced Carmelites. In 1845, Mangalore was also established as a (Propaganda Fide) Vicariate Apostolic, to be administered by the Discalced Carmelites from Verapoly.
For the uninitiated, it should be clarified that a Vicariate Apostolic was not a diocese in the strict sense; it was more akin to a type of papal mission within a territory that otherwise was served by the (Padroado) Archdiocese of Goa. The popes were too weak to drive out of these regions the Portuguese priests who were under the jurisdiction of the archdiocese of Goa.
As might have been expected, despite the creation of a Vicariate Apostolic, most parishes in the Canara region continued to be served by Portuguese priests who were directly under the authority of the Archdiocese of Goa—rather than the Vicariate Apostolic appointed by the Pope.
Pope Leo XIII was elected to the papacy in 1878.
Leo XIII was a man of extraordinary energy: He was firmly convinced that science and religion could coexist, and he proved to be ahead of his time by championing the right of workers to a fair wage and safe working conditions. Above all, he was determined to put an end to the power of the Padroado system, as well as to the arrogance displayed by the Portuguese administration in its dealings with converts within its territories.
On September 1, 1886, Leo XIII published his Apostolic Letter Humanae salutis auctor, in which he set out how he intended to thoroughly restructure the ecclesiastical organisation on the subcontinent. His plan, clearly set out, provided the specifics on how new archdioceses and dioceses would be created (which would function in a manner analogous to the ecclesiastical hierarchy in Europe), the abolition of the temporary Vicariates Apostolic, and significant curtailment of the influence of the King of Portugal over ecclesiastical affairs in the wider region.
And thus was born Mangalore as a diocese on that very day (as was Verapoly).
What followed was both comedy and tragedy: receiving no support from their archbishop in Goa, the Padroado priests packed their bags—taking with them, back to Goa, the baptismal, marriage, and death registers, all of which were written in Portuguese. The non-Portuguese Discalced Carmelites were then left to face the colossal task of compiling new registers for 90,000 Catholics of the new diocese. Much of this tedious work was likely entrusted to young seminarians who had a background in neither the Portuguese writing nor the structure of surnames.
As a result of this work—whether intentionally or otherwise—tildes (used to indicate nasalised sounds, as in Serrão, Conceição, etc.), cedillas (as in Mendonça, Gonçalves) and other special
characters disappeared from the surnames; many instances of de were inappropriately replaced by an apostrophe (for example, de Sousa or de Souza became D’Souza, and do Melo became D’Mello). There were other appalling anomalies too.
In 1878, nine Jesuits of the Venetian province took charge of the administration of the newly established diocese. Angelo Maffei, a member of the team and a highly respected linguist, recorded certain surnames in their correct form in his writings. However, the Jesuits were generally not involved in maintaining records at the parish level.
As Konkani speakers subsequently became members of the clergy—and, for their part, made no effort to acquire the basics of Portuguese—these linguistic errors became a lasting feature.
Ironically, these errors spread as far as Bombay and Karachi, where many Goans had settled for professional reasons; British officials (and perhaps also some individuals originally from Mangalore), who recorded their names in various documents, ensured that the Goans were assigned the correct spelling.
Further changes to the surnames were to follow: the numerous forms that had to be filled out in independent India—particularly in the education sector—whether on paper or in digital format, imposed restrictions on the characters permitted for surnames: only alphanumeric characters were henceforth accepted. Special marks, such as tildes, cedillas, or even a simple apostrophe, were no longer supported!
The reader might be surprised to learn that, to get a visa to India at present, one’s only option is to apply for it online, and the form provided only accepts alphanumeric characters. Just imagine how many thousands of Europeans would find it impossible to complete the form under these conditions!
Over the last few decades, some individuals bearing the Portuguese surnames have chosen to adopt a different spelling; this is the case, for example, with a good friend of the author—a certain Mendonca—who decided to change his name to Mendonsa!
Some common Portuguese surnames among the Mangalorean Catholics
Some common surnames among the Mangalorean Catholics (in alphabetical order), their original
Portuguese form, and the spelling variations that have evolved from them:
Álvares Alvares
Aranha
Barbosa Barboza
Barreto Barretto
Cardoso Cardozo, Cardoza
Castro Crasto, Crasta
Coelho
Colaço Colaco, Colaso
Correia Correa
d’Almeida D’Almeida, Dalmeida, Almeida
da Conceição Concessao, Concesso
da Costa D’Costa, Dcosta
da Cunha D’Cunha, Dcunha
da Rasquinha Rasquinha
da Silveira Silveira
de Albuquerque Albuquerque
de Andrade Andrade
de Bragança Braganza
de Brito Brito, Britto
de Carvalho Carvalho
de Mascarenhas Mascarenhas
de Meneses de Menezes, Menezes
de Mesquita Mesquita, Misquita, Misquitta
de Mendonça Mendonça, Mendonca, Mendonsa
de Miranda Miranda
de Nazaré Nazareth
de Noronha Noronha
de Oliveira Oliveira, Olivera
de Quadros Quadros, Quadras
do Rosário D’Rosario, Rosario
de Sá D’Sa, Dsa
de Saldanha Saldanha, Saldhana, Saldana
de Sequeira Sequeira, Sequera
de Sousa de Souza, D’Souza, Dsouza
da Silva D’Silva, Dsilva
do Melo de Melo, D’Mello, Dmello
do Rêgo Rego
Fernandes Fernandez
Gomes Gomez
Gonçalves Goncalves, Gonsalves
Luiz/Luís Lewis
Lobo
Machado
Martha Madtha (?)
Matias Mathias
Monteiro
Morais/Moraes Moraes
Pais
Pereira Perera
Pinto
Rodrigues Rodriguez, Rodricks
Serrão Serrao
Soares Suares
Vas Vaz
Viegas Veigas