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Jewish family names of Spanish/Portuguese origin in North and South America

Jordan Levy-Bograd
Jordan Levy-Bograd

The discovery of the American continent coincided with the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal. On the basis of historical records, it has been claimed that the expedition lead by Christopher Columbus was funded with the help of money stolen from Spanish Jews. From the year of the expulsion, 1492, and for several hundred years thereafter, tens of thousands of fleeing Jews set sail for the Americas in search of a life better than that which they left behind in the Iberian Peninsula.

Our firm, specializing in emigration to Portugal, assists descendants of expelled Spanish Jews in attaining a Portuguese passport. If you have a Spanish or Portuguese surname, there is a good chance that you too are eligible for a Portuguese passport.

Jewish surnames in the Americas

Jewish surnames of Spanish/Portuguese origin in South America

This article was written to provide necessary information regarding Spanish-Jewish surnames among the descendants of South American Jews. According to statistical estimates, there are tens of millions of Catholic residents of South and Central America who are eligible for a Portuguese passport. They are spread across a number of countries, but the majority of them live in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Suriname, Columbia and the Caribbean Islands.

To acquire a Portuguese passport, you simply need to prove that you are a descendant of Spanish or Portuguese (“Sephardi”) Jews. The process of acquiring the proof involves writing a genealogy report with the assistance of a professional genealogist from our firm. The genealogist follows your lineage back generation by generation until reaching an ancestor who is proven to be Spanish/Portuguese, upon whom the passport application will be based. Such a report proves that the applicant is a descendant of a specific person of Spanish-Jewish origin.

In order to enroll an applicant on the official waiting list of the Portuguese authorities, we conduct an initial review to determine whether or not the applicant does in fact have an ancestral link to Spanish Jewry. Only after we have made certain that there exists such a link, using the services of our genealogist, will we proceed with the writing of the genealogical report.

The report itself is in the form of a booklet a few dozen pages long, providing a clear and detailed case for the applicant’s eligibility to receive a passport. The report goes back generation by generation starting from the applicant all the way to the original Sephardi ancestor. It is worth noting that under Portuguese law, there is no limit on how far back you can go, so it is possible to submit the application based on an ancestor who may have lived hundreds of years ago.

Eligibility among people from South America — Christians and Jews

We would like to present some of the many relevant surnames found among residents of South America. Most of the family names are of a Christian Spanish/Portuguese nature, but it is not uncommon to come across names with Middle Eastern/Muslim roots (although oftentimes they have been distorted due to local pronunciation).

Take note that in the latter case (surnames of Muslim origin), the vast majority come from late emigrations, in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some examples of these surnames are Abuhab, Elmikyas, Ohayon, Ohana, Amzaleg, Marziano, Biton, Azulay, and Abutbul.

We have compiled for you a list of about 50 common Jewish surnames in the Americas. Among the Jews who arrived in South America in the years following the European discovery of the continent, most of those who had surnames that could be distinguished as having Eastern roots, traceable back to the Muslim “Golden Age” in Spain, made sure to change their names to common Christian surnames. They did this to avoid being singled out and punished by the Spanish Inquisition, which was active for hundreds of years in South America. Nowadays, most of the surnames are Christian with a Spanish or Portuguese character. Nevertheless, there exist some names traceable back to Jewish names which underwent distortions throughout the ages.

List of names

Pinto

Suarez

Lopez

Cardoso

Rodriguez

Calderon

Enriquez

Mendes

Leon

Belisario

De Sola

Bueno De Mesquita

Bueno

Mesquita

Nasi/Nassi

Ilan/Ylan

Mercado/Mercato

Carigal/Carregal

Rohiel/Rohuel

Pissaro

Lengolan

Yangakov

Shangre

De Fonseca

Fonseca

Nunes De Fonseca

Nunez

Cristao De Tavora

Fernandez

Fereira

De Lima

Levi Maduro

Senior

Duarte

Harby

Saraiva

Coronel

Delvalle

Rivera

De Lucena

De Marchena

Lopez-Penha

Navarro

Campanell

Arda

De Toledo

Abudiente

Mella

Yesurun

Isaacs

Besides these, there are hundreds of other surnames found in Latin America which are recognized as highly likely to be historically linked to Jews hailing from the Iberian Peninsula. As mentioned above, these surnames are especially common in South and Central America, but they can also be found in the United States and Canada. However, although servants and slaves of landowners took on the surnames of their masters, their descendants, who do not have Jewish roots, are not eligible for Portuguese citizenship.

If, after reading this article, you believe that you are eligible for a Portuguese passport, or are still unsure whether or not you are eligible, you are welcome to contact us. We will be happy to schedule a meeting with you free of charge and review your case together with our specialists.

Contact us – Jewish surnames of Spanish/Portuguese origin in North and South America

If you wish to know more about the process, or you have a surname of Spanish-Jewish extraction that does not appear in the list above, contact us and we will be happy to help you discover your lineage.

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