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Meaning of the Pereira surname

Posted by Daryl Pereira <daryl.pereira@excite.com> on Sun, 06 Mar 2005, in response to The meaning of my Surname, posted by Daryl Pereira Do Carmo on Tue, 30 Dec 2003

Having the same full name, I can shed some light on your question about the meaning of the Pereira surname. Pereira is Portuguese for "Pear Tree", which is from the root word "peira" or "pear" in English. It is common practice for Portuguese families to be named after a defining feature of the province or region that the family comes from. It is possible that the origins of the Pereira family name dates back to the time when one of our ancestors either owned or lived near an orchard of pear trees. Another example of a similar Portuguese surname derived from trees is Oliveira, or "Olive tree".

The second part of your surname is interesting as Pereira is a surname by itself. It is likely that you have inherited the name do Carmo from the paternal side of your family, if your grand-parents followed the Portuguese practice of naming children. Although this is true of recent times, before 1911 there were no set standards of naming and thus it is possible that do Carmo is a suffix to the family name of Pereira. It was possible to have some children with the mother's surname, others with the father's surname.

I quote an excerpt from another source:
"Since 1911 the Portuguese State started putting some standards on Portuguese naming patterns. You may have any number of personal names (usually two, as in Maria do Carmo, or Jose Eduardo) followed by the mother's surname and then the father's surname. Noble families had big surnames, composed of more than one surname and they all were dutifully attached to the newborn's name."

"do Carmo" means "of Carmo". Carmo is a derivative of Carmel from Mount Carmel in Palestine. Of interest is that the Carmelite Order in Portugal is called "Ordem do Carmo". This is why "do Carmo" was a common suffix to female first/personal names, such as Maria do Carmo or Luisa do Carmo.

Which country are you from?
I ask this because it does not sound as if you are familiar with the Portuguese language, and assume that you would have known the meaning of Pereira as it is a common word in the Portuguese language.

The naming practices of your country may be different to those of the "mother" country Portugal, and if so they may be different reasons for why you have inherited your family name.

For example, during the Portuguese "Golden Age" in the late 15th and early 16th century many colonies were established in Africa and in Asia. In the interests of expanding the Catholic religion many of the locals in these colonies were converted to Christianity by Portuguese missionaries. This practice was widely encouraged by the Portuguese governors and administrators of these colonies. When the locals were converted it was common practice for them to take (or adopt) the name of the Portuguese priest that converted them. Hence, it is common to find many variations of Portuguese surnames in parts of the world that were ex-Portuguese colonies, like India and Sri Lanka, even though the individual in question does not have any Portuguese ancestry. As an example, I can think of several Indian and Sri Lankan cricketers who have Portuguese-derived surnames, but with Indian or Sri Lankan first names.

I hope this helps.

Regards
Daryl Pereira

Responses

• do Carmo : Christopher William Felt -- Fri, 04 Jul 2008
  • do Carmo : Fernando -- Sat, 01 Nov 2008
    • Dulce Mother's name : fernando solly -- Tue, 18 Nov 2008
    • Mother's name : Fernando Solly -- Tue, 27 Oct 2009

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