Everything about Names in Portugal

The registration of individuals dates back from ancient times...  However, the registration of names would be applied only to the few who held the title of citizen (free man). 


After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church became responsible for the registration of individuals and their titles, continuing the classic tradition of recording events that involved only wealthy people, be it ecclesiastical, dynastic or nobility.


It was only in early nineteenth-century when civil registry as we know it  was created with the advent of the Napoleonic Code of 1804.    All the territories under the rule of Napolean were forced to adopt the new code and this has affected the power of the Catholic Church.  

Civil registration in Portugal is officially established by the "Code of Civil Registration" of February 18, 1911.    On April 20, 1911, the "Law of Separation of Church and State" radicalized the secular state and determined that all church records (baptisms, marriages and deaths) prior to 1911 had a legal statuses. 

Registrar Office in Portugal

In general, there is a Registrar Office in each Portuguese County.  In Lisbon we find the Central Registrar which is responsible for records involving Portuguese citizens abroad and the management of any other proceeding that relates to the Portuguese people.




How people are named in Portugal


The introduction of foreign names by nationals, even graphically adapted to the Portuguese language, has been prohibited by law. For parents wishing to register their children with unusual names, an authorization will be needed issued by the legal body.   This is thought to prevent excesses of foreign vocabulary and to avoid pronunciation difficulties in the language.    The Portuguese government regulates what proper nouns (names) are admitted or
not in the  registration of children in Portugal.   For this, the government holds official name lists to which the parents can refer  when choosing the names for their kids.  
See the full list in here: 

Official List of names in  Portugal 

Where the Portuguese names come from? 


The Portuguese names come from Latin, Greek, German, Hebrew, Celtic, and Arabic, mainly.
Latin:  António, Mário, Cláudia, Júlia, Flávio, Diana, Marcelo, Caio, Octávio, Beatriz, Vitória, Cecília, Tércio.
Greek: Dinis, Alexandre, Filipe, André, Filomena, Irene, Catarina, Sofia, Margarida, Jorge.
Celtic: Viriato, Artur, Brígida, Fiona, Viviana.
Arabic:  Fátima, Soraia, Aida, Zuleica, Leila.
Hebrew: Isabel, Maria, João, Manuel, Susana, Elias, Miguel, Gabriel, Mateus, Matias, Rute.
Germanic: Alberto, Ivone, Matilde, Rodrigo, Alice, Ema, Leopoldo, Ricardo, Afonso, Fernando, Frederico, Carlos, Luís.
Basque:  Xavier.
Slavic: Estanislau, Olga, Vera.
Finno-Ugric: Átila.
Persian: Ciro.
Italian: Zita, Rita


Examples of traditional Portuguese names...  


In Portugal, traditional names like Mariana, José, Michel, Catarina, Jane, João, Felipe, Pedro, Antônio, Beatriz or Gonçalo are very popular. 
Less historical names were gradually absorbed and have also become very common as Catia, Sandra, Marisa, Fabio, Lara, Bruno, Vanessa and Rubem. 
The names commonly used in the Middle Ages, like Sancho, Egas, Paio, Raimundo, Fernão, Guterre, Mécia, Ximena, Urraca or Sancha are about to disappear from the national onomastics.

Do they have the same rules in Brazil? 

"Can you spell it, please?"
"Washington"

In Brazil you will find several types of names from many different roots such as Iara, Iracema, Jacira, Moacir, of Amerindian origin; Ali, Samira, a Syrian-Lebanese origin; Pietro Paola, of Italian origin; Washington, Lincoln, of Anglo-American, or corruptions of foreign names such as Uóxintom (Washington), Maicon (Michael) or Uéslei - Wesley.    

You will also find names like Manuel and Luiz (old spelling, currently not accepted in Portugal) or Manuel and Luis (correctly spelled).  

There is no "official names' list" in Brazil, therefore one can find names which are difficult to pronounce or even insulting (to its owner). 

Nowadays the registrar official does not allow parents to register their kids using names that will cause offence and embarrassment to the individual.  

Check this list for some examples of names given to individuals in Brazil that can cause offence or embarrassment: 

Brazilian weird names

The rules for First Names in Portugal: 

a) The proper names must be Portuguese. If foreign, it must be adapted graphically and phonetically to the Portuguese language.  This process is called "aportuguesamento"
b) The spelling of proper names must follow the official Portuguese spelling at the time of registration.
c) The name can not raise doubts about the gender of the individual.
d)  Brothers can not be given the same name, unless one of them is no longer alive.
e) Foreign proper names are only allowed in its original form if the person is a foreigner or born abroad, if you have another nationality in addition to Portuguese, if any of your parents is a foreigner or if any of your parents have another nationality in addition to Portuguese.

What are the most popular names in Portugal nowadays? 

The list of the most popular names last year caused no surprise the Portuguese people.   Portugal remains a country made up of Marias (5040 registered there), but not José.  Considered as a trend since  2011,  the most popular male name in the Country was Rodrigo with 2541registrations.  

But there are those who did not live happily with the name given by their parents and has, therefore, appealed to the registrar for change, like that of a Portuguese man of Chinese origin who this year changed his name because it meant in Portuguese "yes to all proposals."  

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Some people think the Portuguese Rules for names are not democratic.   "Too much intrusion of the State in our lives", says some.    Others believe this is a necessary measure to protect the national language from foreign influences.

In one hand you have the state ruling how you should name your kids, in the other hand you have a huge amount of foreign words being used in daily situations, such as "T-shirt", "villa", "snack bar" etc.   Check the table below for some examples.   

These are some of the many English words used in Portugal. 

The words in blue and italics are alternative expressions in Portuguese for the English words. The ones with no correspondent are the ones that are used in their English form. 

Palavras inglesas	Aportuguesamento
Stop	Parar
Football	Futebol
T-shirt	Camisola
CD
Rock
Shampoo	Champô
Tennis	Ténis
Jazz
Pop
Basketball	Basquetebol
Bus	Autocarro
Shopping Centre	Centro comercial
Sweatshirt	Camisolão
Goal	Golo
Made in...	Feito em...
Penalty	Penalti
Aftershave
CD-ROM
Walkman
Spray	Vaporizador
Snack bar	Café / Pastelaria
Donut
Volleyball	Voleibol
Golf	Golfe
Heavy metal
Ketchup
Sandwich	Sandes / Sanduíche

   

Research Sources:

http://junior.te.pt/escolinha/anosLista.jsp?id=212&p=5&d=ing&t=apr

http://www.transparent.com/br/ingles/intermediario/palavras-em-ingles-usadas-em-portugues

http://www.publico.pt/Sociedade/portugal-um-pais-de-marias-e-rodrigos-1544015

http://www.irn.mj.pt/sections/inicio

http://algunsnomesestranhos.blogspot.co.uk/

What is a "samba de enredo" about? Carnival time!

Carnival is approaching rapidly and the cities where the event is celebrated are rushing to get everything ready on time!

Carnival in Rio and other cities is a serious business and preparation begins right after the Carnival season finishes, after all, organizing a 4,000+ parade formed by amateur dancers and choreographers, and the making up of a theme song, costumes, floating cars, drummers is not something that can be put on hold until the last minute.  
On this Carnival season, I am going to publish some articles on the theme, portraying not only the famous Carnival of Rio de Janeiro, but also the many forms of Carnival celebrations that happen in Brazil and in other parts of the world.  

To start with, how about some new "Carnival-related" words for our vocabulary? We start with the word SAMBA DE ENREDO and in the next articles you will meet other important vocabulary for the Carnival season.  

Let's keep in mind that vocabulary learning is not only learning a bunch of words and their usage, but mainly, to learn what the word mean in cultural/historical/social aspects.  This is how we can increase rapidly the number of vocabulary we are able to study and not to forget, a common complaint students make.  

Here we go:

Samba-enredo or samba de enredo – the Samba Theme, they help to understand the theme, so they have to be clear, poetic and show good taste.

But what is all the fuss about it?  And why is it so important for a carnival parade?

Each school parading in Rio or São Paulo competitions must present a "samba de enredo" and one of the things the judges take into account when marking the scores for each presentation is the participants engagement with the song.  Everyone must sing the theme.  When the samba de enredo is ready, by the middle of the year, the schools launch the tune in CDs so that people can buy it and rehearse the song.  It must be catchy, with repetitive chorus, easily memorable and 


The samba de enredo is chosen at the beginning of each year by the carnavalesco (professional who is responsible for the production of the parade of the samba school he works for) and the president of the samba school.
They create a blurb that explains the topic of the parade and  the samba de enredo must be made based on it​​.   They also plan the order of the floating cars during the parade and the different sections, according to the number of people.   The dispute to choose the song for the samba de enredo usually happens at the school grounds and a evaluation panel is assembled to evaluate each song presented by the samba writers. The panel is composed by "old school" carnival experts, older "carnavalescos" and important people from the community where the school is inserted.  

The parades of samba schools in Rio Carnival has immortalized songs that all Brazilians know to sing.  Neguinho da Beija-Flor, a renowned samba composer, says:  a good samba de enredo is responsible for 70% of the successful performance of a school."

The school receives a large number of different compositions of samba songs. They are selected and performed several times on "decision day", at the school for the jury and the community to define which one stirs the audience. The one to win is the one that most excites the crowd!


Based on articles from the following websites:
http://www.sesctv.org.br/destaque.cfm?id=5992&destaque_id=4
http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-entertainment/rio%E2%80%99s-carnival-glossary/
http://www.homesinrio.com/carnival-in-rio.htm

The most macabre tourist attraction of Portugal

I was just a little girl when my grandmother first told me about a chapel in Portugal where the walls were all covered by human bones and skulls.  The name of this place is Capela dos Ossos - The Bones Chapel and later on, I found out that this place really existed and to my surprise, not only one capela is there to be seen, but many!   In 2009 I visited the Bones Chapel in Faro, which was already very scary and I could not wait to visit the big one, in Évora!


The most important and famous Bones Chapel is located in the city of Évora, in the Alentejo region of Portugal and this past Christmas  I went there to see one of the most macabre sacred-place-turned-into"tourist attraction" in Portugal.  


The official Capela dos Ossos website explains that back in the 16th century the local monastic cemeteries (42 in total) were getting crowded more and more and the  Franciscan monks decided on a practical solution for the situation: they moved all the bones to one chapel and (here comes the philosophical twist) decided to display them prominently thinking this was an opportunity to contemplate and communicate the inevitability of death.  


At the entrance, leading to the inside of the sacred chapel, the warning:  "we bones that lie here, for yours await" -  see photo  Not bad for a warm welcome, eh?   

"Inside, human bones and skulls completely cover the chapel's walls and pillars - the number of skeletons has been estimated at 5,000. Legend has it the bones come from soldiers of a major battle or plague victims, but in reality they are people from all walks of life who were buried in Evora's medieval cemeteries. " 

(source: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/)  

There are some conspiracy theories saying that the bones used to form the walls in the chapel belonged to people killed during inquisition (Centuries XVI and XVII) but this is obviously unconfirmed.  The chapel was built between the same centuries though.  


Below I have added some photos I took but I apologise for the poor quality of the ones taken inside the Chapel.  You can find more information about the Chapel and the beautiful city of Évora in this website.

Lateral view of Igreja São Francisco and the Bones Chapel

Entrance to the Bones Chapel

Main entrance for the Bones  Chapel with inscription:  "We bones that lie here, for yours await."

Inside the Bones Chapel.  

The visitors can't get too close to the bones and there are information desks with poems written to celebrate and contemplate death.  

Detail of the one of the walls.  

Corridor leading to the Chapel.   

Igreja São Franscisco.