Saintly Names: Part One and Two

Copyright 1998. Permission to run in the Genealogy Forum granted by the author.

Part One

Sometimes we run across some names of ancestors which are uncommon and with no precendence in the family. An example from my own ancestry is a Silvestre da Rocha, baptized on 4 January in 1688 in São Bartolomeu, Terceira, the son of João Brás and Maria Santa. After lots of research, I've uncovered no other ancestors or relatives to Silvestre who had the same given name. So where would this name come from? How would his parents decide to name him that?

I can't be 100% certain, but I believe I know the answer. But first, I have to relate a little story.

My wife, a native of Bratislava, Slovakia, is named Jana. In her native country, everyone celebrates a "name day" which is a day, just once each year, that is celebrated as much as her own birthday. I suspect it's just a great excuse for another celebration. Nonetheless, it's a tradition there and has been for a very long time.

"Name days" are totally unknown to us in America. It seems to be a tradition in the eastern European countries that never was brought to our shores. Each day of the calendar year has a saint for that day. In Slovakia, a person is always named after one of these saints. Saint Jana's day is 23 August (Jana translates to Joana in Portuguese). Jana's birthday is 28 October so these two dates are celebrated by us each year. And it would be very bad to forget to send a card to anyone in Jana's family on their name day; it's that important. (Note from Cheri: My relatives on Sao Miguel told me that they celebrate their baptism day. I don't know yet if the baptism day has any bearing on their names).

Maybe you can already see where this is leading and might be wondering about when the other saints days are. To continue my story, last year Jana told me that on New Year's Eve, 31 December, they call that day Silvester in Slovakia, such as "What shall we do to celebrate Silvester this year?" When I looked at our calendar which lists all the Slovak name days, I could see Silvester listed on 31 Dec. Then it dawned on me about my own ancestor, Silvestre da Rocha, above. He was born before 1696 when the Portuguese churches started recording the date of birth along with the baptism records. Since my ancestor was baptized on 4 Jan., it seems highly probable that he was named after the saint for the day he was born on. Following this further, my ancestor Lourenço da Rocha Homem, born on 9 August 1751 in São Mateus, Terceira, grandson of the above Silvestre, was almost certainly named after the day of his birth, São Lourenço, which is on 10 August. I think it's likely he was born late on the night of 9-10 August, even though the baptism record says he was born on the 9th. The father of Lourenço was José da Rocha, born on 12 March, baptized on 18 March, awfully close to the day of São José on 17 March. A brother of the above Silvestre by the name of João Brás Jr., was baptized on 26 June 1689, very close to São João's day on 24 June, making me believe he was born two days earlier, the 24th. For this reason, I can feel pretty confident that the family was practicing that tradition and in my case, I can be fairly sure of the day of birth for an ancestor that otherwise would never be known, since the records don't tell me. I checked my database and found that when the records do say the day of birth many people named Silvestre were born or baptized on 31 December.

Part Two

Checking many of the other dates on the calendar, Saint Vicente's day is 21 January and I've recorded some born on that day. I've recorded at least one Gaspar baptized on that saint's day of 29 January. I have a Veronica born on 2 February whose day is 3 Feb., making me wonder whether she was really born early in the morning of 3 Feb. At least one Agueda was born on her day of 5 Feb. The day for Thomas is 7 March and I have many recorded as born or baptized on that day. Many named Francisca were born on her day of 9 March. A surprising number named José were born or baptized on St. Joseph's day of 19 March. Several named Gabriel were born or baptized near the day of St. Gabriel on 24 March. Of the hundreds named Manuel, I found only one born on his day of 26 March. April 24th is for Saint Jorge and I have several born or baptized on that day. For Gertrudes, her day is 19 May, according to my Slovak calendar, but it must be different for Portuguese because many were born on 20 May with that name. A very high number named João were born or baptized on that day of 24 June. A shocking number named Bartolomeu were born in August and a high percentage of them were born on that saint's day of 24 August. At least one Marianna was baptized on her saint's day of 7 September. For the name Maria, only a tiny percentage were born or baptized on her day of 12 September, barely enough to eliminate it as coincidence. Some named Cecilia were born or baptized on her day of 22 November. A relatively large percentage named Clemente were born on his day of 23 November. It seems that most with the unusual name of Bibianna were born on her saint's day of 2 December. A good number named Barbara were born or baptized on her day of 4 December. A coincidence is that the Lourenço da Rocha Homem, above, married a Luzia da Conceição who was born on her saint's day of 13 December, as were a high percentage of others named Luzia.

One can clearly see from all the above examples that names were often selected based on the day the child was born or baptized. The custom is very old, at least as old as the 15th century when the island of Santa Maria received its Portuguese name. But for every child given the name of the saint for the day on which they were born or baptized, there are far greater numbers who were not named after a saint's day (though they still might be named for a saint on any other day of the year). It's just something to keep in mind. Certainly, some families followed this tradition more than others which could give some extra insight into the thinking of ancestors whom you'll never know much about.

I checked with some of my acquaintences by e-mail in Portugal and Brazil and found that it is not a Portuguese custom and all but one had never heard of it. One person reported that in the small villages in Brazil, even today, they are still following the tradition of naming kids after saints. In mainland Portugal, the "name day" is also a foreign concept, but known to be practiced in Spain and Greece. In Spain, they celebrate their name day instead of their birthday, one person reported. My own knowledge is that Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, all practice the "name day" tradition. A native of Piedade, Pico reported that he's never heard of either tradition, so we might be able to assume that this tradition of giving children the name of the saint for the day they were born or baptized on has not been practiced in recent times, or at least not as widely as before.

Related to this is a surname based on the day of one's birth. I have heard of a person who used the surname "dos Santos" because he was born on November 1st, which is All Saint's Day. No others in his family had used the "dos Santos" surname before.

Look for the next free Portuguese Genealogy Workshop. The date will be announced on my website. Contact me at: Doug da Rocha Holmes, 2711 Corabel Lane No. 34, Sacramento, CA 95821, (916) 489-9599, or Rocha@dholmes.com.



Sources: Please contact author for source information. Doug da Rocha Holmes, Email: Rocha@dholmes.com. Website: http://www.dholmes.com

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