AHC: Spread the use of native surnames in the Americas

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Brazil seems to be one of the few, if only country in the Americas where quite a few old-stock colonial families decided to abandon their Portuguese surnames and take on last names derived from the indigenous language ie Tupi (locations, pre-Columbian tribes, fruits, prominent native chiefs, etc) to emphasize their patriotism to their new country.

• Native Brazilian nations or tribes: Tupinambá, Tabajara, Carijó, Goytacaz, Guarany, Tamoyo (the name of a confederation of many tribes that fought the first Portuguese settlers);
• Brazilian trees: Jatobá, Mangabeira (mangaba tree), Pitangui (pitanga tree), Sarahyba, Palmeira (palm tree), Goiabeira (guava tree);
• Typical Brazilian fruits: Pitanga, Muricy, Guaraná (a Brazilian family with Dutch ancestors changed their surname from Van Ness to Guaraná);
• Famous Native Brazilian chiefs: Cayubi, Tibiriçá, Paraguaçu (big river, sea, in Tupian language), Piragibe (fish's arm, in Tupian language).

What if something similar had happened in the rest of the Americas? What would prompt such a thing to happen amongst the other settler societies in the Americas?

 

[GauchoBadger]

I'm brazilian and can confirm that i've seen nobody with any of these surnames.

 

[Lampiao]

I'm brazilian and can confirm that i've seen nobody with any of these surnames.

Yes, there are a few of them. Mostly from old traditional families. Right know I can only think of the famous plastic surgeon Ivo Pitanguy and the Harvard professor Mangabeira Unger, but you can surely name some more.

This phenomenon maybe related to the fact that a considerable amount of Portuguese surnames are related to the European trees (Carvalho "oak tree", Pereira "pear tree", Oliveira "olive tree") which are obviously completely foreign to the eyes of inhabitants of a tropical country. These names doesn't seem to be as common in Spanish as they are in Portuguese. Still, it's only correlation.

 

[leopard9]

Brazil seems to be one of the few, if only country in the Americas where quite a few old-stock colonial families decided to abandon their Portuguese surnames and take on last names derived from the indigenous language ie Tupi (locations, pre-Columbian tribes, fruits, prominent native chiefs, etc) to emphasize their patriotism to their new country.



What if something similar had happened in the rest of the Americas? What would prompt such a thing to happen amongst the other settler societies in the Americas?

I think the most likely way would be to have more powerful native families and clans that the settlers have to deal with and later marry into in order to gain a foothold in local trade or be allowed to settle the land. These mestizo families that would result could then have a native surname and if they continue to be successful and have sons, the names could spread throughout the settler population. How to get more powerful native bloodlines...maybe if certain tribes win more battles against the Europeans, the Europeans decide that it's overall less costly to coexist and intermarry with the natives than to push them off the land they want.

 

[Gukpard]

I'm brazilian and can confirm that i've seen nobody with any of these surnames.

This phenomenon maybe related to the fact that a considerable amount of Portuguese surnames are related to the European trees (Carvalho "oak tree", Pereira "pear tree", Oliveira "olive tree") which are obviously completely foreign to the eyes of inhabitants of a tropical country. These names doesn't seem to be as common in Spanish as they are in Portuguese. Still, it's only correlation.

Well, as far I know this came from a nativist movement in the mid 19th century that wanted to restore those old native names to distance Brazil from Portugal, and this movement was one of the inspirations of the "The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma", this was also the reason why Carlos Gomes made the "Guaraní" symphony and why many books of the time emphasised the natives, as they wanted a south american version of the european knight they went for the natives

 

[Lampiao]

Well, as far I know this came from a nativist movement in the mid 19th century that wanted to restore those old native names to distance Brazil from Portugal, and this movement was one of the inspirations of the "The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma", this was also the reason why Carlos Gomes made the "Guaraní" symphony and why many books of the time emphasised the natives, as they wanted a south american version of the european knight they went for the natives

That (which the OP have already explained) and people who have simply adopted their noble titles (which comes from Brazilian toponymy) as their surnames, eg. Pitangui, Capanema, etc.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

I'm not sure what a traditional Native American surname would be. I'm used to thinking of names like Sitting Bull as actual names of natives - it's not like he he had relatives like Running Bull or of course his political brother Talking Bull (Come on, I know half of you not only thought of that but have probably heard that joke a hundred times.)

That being said, if you could create an adjective/noun or verb/noun hybrid you could do so. Perhaps freed slaves would abandon the names of their masters and adopt names like one I saw as a friend of a friend on Facebook and thought it was a native American name - Proudfoot.

The irony is that I finally looked it up (not knowing him personally I didn't feel comfortable asking) and it's actually from the British Isles. However, that would be a good thing because a name like Running Bear could potentially be shortened to Runbear and people might think, like Proudfoot, it fits right in. Or, just Bear.

As for fruits, I did have a teacher named Appel in 2nd grade, so that could easily be changed to Apple. (I mean, half the kids probably spelled it that way anyway in 2nd grade and she was nice enough not to correect them all the time.) Mays could be changed to Maize for the foods I suppose, but a number of the food oens sound European, anyway - like Orange, wouldn't you automatically think of the Dutch royal family? Though, again, like Proudfoot, it might help to make it more appealing to more people if it's not necessarily associated with the natives.

 

[Indicus]

I'm not sure what a traditional Native American surname would be. I'm used to thinking of names like Sitting Bull as actual names of natives - it's not like he he had relatives like Running Bull or of course his political brother Talking Bull (Come on, I know half of you not only thought of that but have probably heard that joke a hundred times.)

I've never understood why people translate native names. If you translate any name, you'll get something that sounds weird. For instance, William Shakespeare translates as "Will-Helmet Wield-Spear". Native names really are no different.

 

[Deleted member 67076]

Avoid Columbus and see the Spanish attempting to co-opt natives through more vassalage which sees local nobility incorporated into rule rather than merely attempts at conquest.

 

[9 Fanged Hummingbird]

I've never understood why people translate native names. If you translate any name, you'll get something that sounds weird. For instance, William Shakespeare translates as "Will-Helmet Wield-Spear". Native names really are no different.

They mostly only translated native names from the western parts of North America, so it's not even terribly consistent. Nobody calls Tecumseh "Shooting Star", but at the same time you hardly see Crazy Horse referred to as Thasunke Witko. And to make things more convoluted, you sometimes have easterners commonly referred to by English translations, like the war chief Blue Jacket from the same tribe as Tecumseh. In any case, one potential barrier is the lack of North American surnames. Some people in Mexico and Central America do have Native American surnames but that's because Mesoamericans did have family names and some were prominent enough that their descendants continued to use them.

That said, I think part of the reason some tribes generally have their members' names translated is because the people themselves translated their names when speaking English, which isn't terribly surprising when you consider how much more significance they placed on their names than modern Westerners do. William Shakespeare wasn't named for some great feat of martial skill he pulled off, it was a combination of inherited family name as well as a first name his parents happened to think sounded nice and was traditional. Many native people however had no surnames and were commonly given new names upon becoming an adult or performing some great act or even just something memorable, which is why They Fear Even His Horses is a much more indicative name that the bearer would possibly want translated than what you generally have in English (although that man's name is unfortunately more often inaccurately translated as "Young Man Afraid Of His Horses").