I have posted numerous articles that focus on this subject on my website -
http://www.geocities.com/papagaia2/crypto-J.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alicia Carrillo"
To:
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2007 11:33 AM
Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] Portuguese naming practices

Edward and Linda,

In large part that's what caught my attention knowing that the Portuguese
and Españoles probably had more in common than we factually know of. The
survival instinct is more powerful than the desire to maintain one's
ancestral lineage, unless of course to do so would prove to be advantageous
monetarily or to prove linkage to some royal heritage.

Edward , the possibility exists that the Christian name may have been more
important than the Jewish one. Taking on the Christian name they could still
be Jewish but show to the world through their surname that they were
Christian. The Jews rather than leave Portugal overtly displayed their
Christianity in order to survive. During the reign of King Manuel 1, in
1496, he asked for the hand in marriage of the daughter of Ferdinand and
Isabella, he was told that only under the condition that he purify Portugal
of the Jews as the Spanish had done in 1492. King Manuel had a fondness for
the Jewish people as they were scholars, artists, scientists and the best
educated and rather than expelling them he had them convert to Christianity.
However this didn't last because in the early 1500's there were mass
slaughterings of Jews and many fled to the Netherlands.

Alicia
----- Original Message ----
From: Edward Serros
To: general@lists.nuestrosranchos.org
Sent: Sunday, April 1, 2007 9:39:41 AM
Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] Portuguese naming practices

The Portuguese surname practices that you discuss were not unique to the
Portuguese. The Spanish in the 1500's and beyond take similar liberty in the
use of apellidos. For example, the Santos Coy and the de la Garza Falcon
surnames from the Nuevo Leon/Saltillo/Monterey are equally bizarre if you go
back to the original paternal and maternal surnames in Spain. Admittedly,
these two families had family members in their genealogy tree that were
Portuguese and likely Jewish. However, there many other Spanish examples,
e.g. Don Juan de Oñate---Basque paternal line and converso maternal line.

I often wonder if the conversos had multiple names (Christian name and
Jewish name), thereby making the Christian name less important or not as
important. The latter is sheer speculation on my part.

Ed