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Portuguese surnames, or the conventional formation of first names and family names in countries and communities of Portuguese language have some peculiarities:

1. Complete names are formed as it is generally practiced in Western Europe, i.e., by first names, followed optionally by one or more middle names, followed (also optionally) by the mother's family surname, followed by the father's family surname. Examples:
   1. José Silva: the simplest configuration, with a single given name and the father's family surname
   2. José Eduardo Silva: José Eduardo is the given name and Silva the father's family name (however, note that Eduardo may be a valid mother's family name: there is no way of knowing just by looking at the name)
   3. José Eduardo Monteiro Silva: in this case the mother's family name has been added. Another possibility would be that Monteiro Silva is a composite family name on the father's side, this is relatively common in Portuguese surnames, i.e., both names are carried down to all descendants; again there is no way of knowing this. Hyphenated names are rare in Portuguese (i.e., Monteiro-Silva, a convention which would dispel the confusion: sometimes is artificially forced by authors, politicians, etc., who want to be correctly cited in other countries. Example: Cavaco-Silva, one of Portugal's presidents)
2. In males only, the complete name, if it repeats the name of a relative, e.g., father, grandfather or uncle, may be appended by: Júnior (abbreviated Jr.), Filho (meaning son), Neto (grandson) or Sobrinho (nephew), always written with initial upper case and without a separating comma. Bisneto (grand-grandson) is very unusual, but it is nothing against its use. Other relations of kin are not used. This convention do not apply to names of females.

Origin of names

Portuguese surnames have several origins, according to the history of occupation and immigration of Portugal's territory. One of the most common is names of animals and plants, such as Carneiro (mutton), Leão (lion), Silveira (a kind of bush), Oliveira (olive tree), Macieira (apple tree), Pereira (pear tree). It is generally agreed that these are surnames invented and adopted by marranos, i.e., christianized Jews in the Middle Ages. Other surnames are originated from the professions, such as Ferreira (smith).