Question concerning surnames

[AlexDelarge]

Hi, first of all i don't know if this is the right place of the forum for this question, but here goes...

I would like to know if the surnames Pereira and Candeias exist in Spain in their original form or in the spanish version like Candeaz or something.
Pereira is very common in Portugal, Candeias not so much. Anyway, this is just something i am curious about, and the reason i ask is because i think those names don't exist in Spain.

Btw, i think i could have written this in portuguese in this area of the forum, but since this question is more directed to the spanish here i was afraid they would not understand and no one would reply...

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by AlexDelarge

Hi, first of all i don't know if this is the right place of the forum for this question, but here goes...

I would like to know if the surnames Pereira and Candeias exist in Spain in their original form or in the spanish version like Candeaz or something.
Pereira is very common in Portugal, Candeias not so much. Anyway, this is just something i am curious about, and the reason i ask is because i think those names don't exist in Spain.

Pereira exists. I had a school mate with that name. But it was surely Portuguese in origin.

As for Candelas, I know a family here with that surname. However, this is Eastern Iberia, and that's a name that you'll find more to the West, in the Castilles.

There is, historically, the famed bandolero (highway man) Luis Candelas. There is also a restaurant in Madrid with his name ( Las Cuevas de Luis Candelas ), and from what I've hear they keep in the business tradition of Luis Candelas (they reap you off).

Btw, i think i could have written this in portuguese in this area of the forum, but since this question is more directed to the spanish here i was afraid they would not understand and no one would reply...

It would not be the first thread here that there are posts in Portuguese and Castilian, and all understand each other without problems.

[AlexDelarge]

Thanks for the reply.
The second name was Candeias with an i. Maybe you thought it was a typo..
But on second thought, maybe Candelas is the spanish equivalent to Candeias.
Candeia means something like oil lamp in portuguese, so Candeias would be "oil lamps" lol

( although i think there is also a flower with that name )

[Menydh]

More or less.. Real Academia Española. Diccionario Usual.

[Galaico]

About Pereira, I know a girl with that surname, and a guy whose surname is Pereiras. They're both Galician friends of mine.

It's not a rare surname in Galicia, where tree-name surnames are quite common.

About Candeias, like Mynydd said before the literal translation in Spanish is Candelas, the origin of this surname would be in La Mancha, more specifically in the province of Ciudad Real, although it is also found at a (relatively) high rate in Madrid, and at a smaller rate in Barcelona and Valencia.

[Breogan]

Pereira is a Galician surname.

Candeias (and Candelas) don't exist as far as I know.
The most similar ones are Cando, Candal and derivatives, but etymology is probably different.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Breogan

Pereira is a Galician surname.

Candeias (and Candelas) don't exist as far as I know.
The most similar ones are Cando, Candal and derivatives, but etymology is probably different.

It is incidental to notice that Candeias has an homonimous in Castille with a same/similar etymology, whereas there is none in Galicia.

Many believe, wrongly, that Portuguese surnames derive or are common with Galician surnames alone. However, there is a number of Portuguese surnames derived (or in common) with Castille. The difference would be in the Portuguese/Castillian spelling.

This does not happen with Portuguese and Catalan-Aragonese (there are incidences between Catalan and Aragonese surnames) surnames.

[AlexDelarge]

Thank you for the replies.
I suspected that Candeias did not exist in Spain, it's rare even ere in Portugal.

As for Pereira, i just remembered an Uruguayan(?) football player of Atletico de Madrid called Perea, so maybe that's the castillian equivalent, which was what i wanted to know.

What would be interesting was knowing how these surnames came about. It is said that names like Fernandes/Fernandez are supposed to be like "son of", so these would be explainable. The english had profession names as surnames, like Smith, Butcher or Taylor, as well as the "son of" names.
But tree names? That is just strange

[Menydh]

Off of the top of my head: Olmos (elms; castillian), Pí (pine; catalan), Margall (a wild ear; catalan), Robles (oaks; castillian), Garrigues (brush-woods; catalan), Cerezo (cherry tree; castilian).

[Breogan]

Originally Posted by AlexDelarge

...

As for Pereira, i just remembered an Uruguayan(?) football player of Atletico de Madrid called Perea, so maybe that's the castillian equivalent, which was what i wanted to know...

Nope, Perea is a Basque surname in origin, although it could spread across Castille in Reconquista times.

What would be interesting was knowing how these surnames came about. It is said that names like Fernandes/Fernandez are supposed to be like "son of", so these would be explainable. The english had profession names as surnames, like Smith, Butcher or Taylor, as well as the "son of" names.
But tree names? That is just strange

Not so strange, one explanation could be that the first man in taking the surname lived in a place with many of these trees, other lived near a bridge and so on.

[Galaico]

Isn't Perea related to the Kingdom of Perea, a region in Palestine under Herodes Antipas in Jesus Christ times?

[Breogan]

Originally Posted by Galaico

Isn't Perea related to the Kingdom of Perea, a region in Palestine under Herodes Antipas in Jesus Christ times?

I don't think so; they must be two different words and just a coincidence.
Perea is Basque and means "helechal" or something like that, I don't know how to say it in English.