A Portuguese name, or a Lusophone name, is a personal name in the Portuguese language with typically at least one personal name, the mother's family surname and the father's family surname. A last surname without prepositions tends to exist in formal greetings.
General Portuguese law establishes the need for a child to have at least one personal name and one surname from one of the parents. The law also establishes the maximum number of names allowed: up to two personal names and four surnames. Advice from the says of this restriction that a name "may contain a maximum of six simple words or compounds, as a rule, up to two first names and four surnames"; more may be permissible in some circumstances.
Usually, the maternal surnames precede the paternal ones, but the opposite is also possible. If the father is unknown, or he has not acknowledged the child, only the mother's family name(s) is/are used. A child can receive surnames from their parents' ancestors, even if those surnames are not part of the parents' names, provided that the parents prove those names were used by their ancestors.
Number of names
It is not uncommon in Portugal that a married woman has two personal names and six surnames, two from her mother's family, two from her father's family, and the last two coming from her husband. In addition, some of these names may be made of more than one word, so that a full feminine name can have more than 12 words. For instance, the name "Maria do Carmo Mão de Ferro e Cunha de Almeida Santa Rita Santos Abreu" would not be surprising in a married woman. Mão de Ferro (iron hand) and Santa Rita (after Saint Rita of Cascia) count only as one surname each. In this case, Santos Abreu would probably have come from this woman's husband. She would be typically known as Maria do Carmo Abreu (since Marian invocation names tend to stick together) and would be typically alphasorted and collated under Abreu.
In Portugal, the custom of giving a child four surnames is popular, since this way a child can have each of their parents' surnames. For instance, the Emperor Pedro I of Brazil (also known as King Pedro IV of Portugal) (1798–1834) had the full name of Pedro de Alcântara Francisco Antônio João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim de Bourbon e Bragança, and his son, the Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, had the full name of Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Habsburgo-Lorena e Bragança. For the sake of simplicity, most Portuguese people use only two surnames.
For example, if José Santos Almeida and Maria Abreu Melo had a daughter, her name could simply be Joana Melo Almeida (personal name + mother's surname + father's surname). However, they could give her two personal names, for example Joana Gabriela, and combine their surnames in various ways, such as Joana Gabriela Melo Almeida, Joana Gabriela Abreu Melo Almeida (two surnames from the mother, one from the father), Joana Gabriela Abreu Santos Almeida (one name from the mother, two from the father), or even Joana Gabriela Abreu Melo Santos Almeida (two names from each parent).
It would also be possible to use surnames that are not part of either parent's legal name, but which the parents would be entitled to use, i.e. a surname from a grandparent or a great-grandparent that was not transmitted to the father or the mother. This child would probably become known by her final surname, Joana Almeida. However, her parents could decide to change the order of surnames and name her Joana Almeida Melo, etc. In this case she would probably be known as Joana Melo.
In Portugal, having only one surname is rare, and it usually happens when both the parents have the same surname, to avoid repetitive combinations such as António Santos Santos (which would, however, be an acceptable legal name). In Brazil, having only one surname is common in areas with large communities of non-Portuguese immigrants.
Spellings
Portuguese names have a standard spelling, since names are considered as regular nouns, and are thus subject to the orthographical rules of the Portuguese language. The spelling of many names has evolved through times and with orthography reforms; at the same time, archaic forms of names survive, though they are considered misspellings by current spelling rules. The Acordo Ortográfico ("Orthographic Agreement"), valid in Brazil and Portugal, states on Section XI (Proper Nouns): Os nomes próprios personativos, locativos e de qualquer natureza, sendo portugueses ou aportuguesados, serão sujeitos às mesmas regras estabelecidas para os nomes comuns. ("Anthroponymic and toponymic proper nouns, if Portuguese or incorporated to the Portuguese language, are subject to the same spelling rules established to regular nouns.").Academia Brasileira de Letras – Formulário Ortográfico (in Portuguese)
Brazil
In Brazil, there are no laws concerning names, and only obscene or ridiculous names are forbidden when parents register the birth of a child at the local cartório de registro civil (Civil registry). Many archaic spellings coexist with the orthographically correct, and even with fancy orthographies (Felipe [common], Philippe [archaic and traditional], Fellype [fancy]).Manuela ou Manoela? (in Portuguese)Isabela – com S (in Portuguese)CASTRO, Marcos de. A imprensa e o caos na ortografia. São Paulo: Editora Record. (in Portuguese)A imprensa e o caos da ortografia, Nilson Lage, Instituto Gutenberg, 1999. (in Portuguese)
Names of international inspiration are common, bringing with them the unusual characters "k", "w", and "y" (Katya, William), diacritics that do not match the Brazilian pronunciation (Desirée, pronounced Desirrê) or do not exist in Portuguese (Thaïs), double letters that retain their foreign pronunciation (Roosevelt) or not (Giovanni), silent letters (as in the formerly mentioned Desirée and Thaïs), and letters that are intended to sound differently from the orthographic norms (Juan, if intended to sound as in Spanish, Hannah, if the initial "h" is intended as an aspiration). Parents can make up any type of name, and suffixes with an English or French "flavour" are often used to give foreign allure to their offspring's names, such as "-son" for boys and "-elly" for girls (Deividson, Jéferson, Joeldson, Maiksson, Andrielly, Marcelly, Nadrielly, Nathyelly, etc.). This phenomenon can be easily seen in Brazilian football players' names.Geração "on" , Roberto Pompeu de Toledo, Revista Veja, Edição 2101, 25 de fevereiro de 2009 (in Portuguese)A vingança de José sobre Taílson , Roberto Pompeu de Toledo, Revista Veja, Edição 1672, 25 de outubro de 2000 (in Portuguese)Grafia de Nomes Próprios (in Portuguese)
Names of deceased historical figures must be spelled following the current orthographic rules: Luís de Camões (not Luiz de Camoens), Venceslau Brás (not Wenceslau Braz), Euclides da Cunha (not Euclydes da Cunha), Tomás António Gonzaga (not Thomaz Antonio Gonzaga) etc.CIPRO NETO, Pasquale; INFANTE, Ulisses. Gramática da Língua Portuguesa. 1ª ed. São Paulo: Editora Scipione, 1999. (p. 42).NISKIER, Arnaldo. Questões Práticas da Língua Portuguesa: 700 Respostas. Rio de Janeiro: Consultor, Assessoria de Planejamento Ltda., 1992. (p. 45).Nomes de pessoas: como escrever? (in Portuguese)
Portugal
In Portugal, personal names have a standard spelling that is considered the norm (even for non-contemporary figures) and the rules are enforced by law by the 'Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado'. There is a defined list of allowed names;Lista de vocábulos admitidos (in Portuguese) misspelt and archaic forms (e.g. Luiz is the archaic form of Luís), and names containing foreign letters – k, y, w – are usually not allowed. However, older people who were registered with archaic forms have continued to use them (examples include Manoel de Oliveira – the modern spelling would be Manuel). Regarding surnames, there are no legal restrictions, and as such many people continue to use archaic spellings of family names, as in Athayde or Telles (modern forms Ataíde and Teles).
The preposition de
The preposition de and its grammatical forms (da, das, do, dos) are used in Portuguese surnames, such as in Maria da Cunha, José das Neves, Joana do Rosário, Luís dos Santos, Gabriela de Sousa. The last means "from" or "of", while the others mean "from the" or "of the". The current convention in Portuguese is that they be written in lower case. These are part of a composite name, e.g., "Sousa" is different from "de Sousa," but both are ordered under 'S' in an alphabetical list. Luiz Pereira da Silva is referred to as Mr. Silva, not Mr. da Silva. The conjunction e (and) is also common, e.g. "Maria Costa e Silva". Most commonly this would be a composite surname.
The best-known exception to this norm is former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, who is frequently referred to as President Dos Santos, even among Portuguese-speaking people and in Portuguese-language media (although, in Portugal, the forms "Presidente José Eduardo dos Santos" or "Presidente Eduardo dos Santos" are still more common). Likewise, the Anglophone media often ignores this rule when referring to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as Mr. Da Silva, instead of Mr. Silva.
Surnames and marriage
The custom of a woman adopting her husband's surname was not originally a Portuguese or Brazilian tradition. It spread in the late 19th century in the upper classes, under French influence. After the 1940s, it became almost socially obligatory; not doing so was seen as evidence of concubinage, particularly until the 1970s. In Portugal since 1977, and in Brazil since the 1970s, a woman has the option of whether or not to take her husband's surname after marriage. In Portugal since 1977, and in Brazil since 2002, a husband can also adopt his wife's surname. In Portugal, when this happens, usually both spouses change their name after marriage (for example, José Santos Almeida and Maria Abreu Melo could become José Santos Melo Almeida and Maria Abreu Melo Almeida or even "José Santos Almeida Melo" and "Maria Abreu Melo Almeida"). In Brazil, there is not yet a perceived pattern.
Mandatory adoption of a new combined name led to unusual combinations when the woman's surname was kept, as in the not uncommon case of both spouses having the same surname before marriage. Another confusing situation occurred, for example, when a woman named Ana Lima Silva married a man named João Lima. In such a situation her name could become Ana Lima Silva Lima. Nowadays in Portugal, a person may adopt their spouse's surname(s), but only in combination with their own birth surnames. For example, if Maria Abreu Melo marries José Santos Almeida, she could choose to become Maria Abreu Melo Almeida or Maria Abreu Melo Santos Almeida.
In Brazil, a woman may adopt her husband's surname(s) while also either retaining her maiden name or not. For example, when Maria Abreu Melo marries José Santos Almeida, she could choose to become Maria Abreu Melo Almeida, Maria Abreu Melo Santos Almeida, Maria Santos Almeida, Maria Almeida, etc. The most common practice is for a woman to keep part of her birth name and use part of her husband's surname so as to avoid an overly long string of surnames. So, the most used combination from the above example would be Maria Melo Almeida.
In 2012, a circuit of the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice allowed a woman to adopt her male partner's surname while in a common-law marriage.
Collation