Origins of the names

Comenius Project- BEST

D. Afonso HenriquesD. Afonso Henriques was born in 1109. He was the first king of Portugal.

He was the son of Count D. Henrique and D. Teresa of León and according to tradition his birth occurred in Guimarães.

Named "Alfonso" in honour of his grandfather D. Alfonso VI, and " Henriques " meaning " the son of Henry ". With the death of his father, D. Afonso Henriques takes a set of policies that go against his mother, D. Teresa.

He won the independence from the Kingdom of Leon and Castile in 1143, fighting against his mother, at the Battle of S. Mamede, on June 24, 1128, in Guimarães, and so acquired the nickname of "the Conqueror".

Since then, he governed Portucale where his authority was rarely challenged .

His reign began in 1139 and ended in 1185, lasting only 46 years. D. Afonso Henriques died on December 6, 1185.

D. Afonso Henriques Origin of the name Afonso

Name of Germanic origin meaning " inclined to nobility " , " ready to nobility " or " fit to be noble.“

 Afonso is a name originated in Adalfuns, formed by the Germanic elements adal, meaning " noble " and funs, which means " ready " , " ready" , "fit " or " inclined" .

It was the name of six kings of Portugal, including the first Portuguese King, D. Afonso Henriques.

The first records of the name Afonso in its current form were found in the thirteenth century. Afonso, orSpanish and Galician variant Alfonso, was a very common name among kings and nobles.

Queen Santa Isabel

Queen Isabel was born in 1271 in Zaragoza, Kingdom of Aragon and died on 4 July 1336, aged 65 in Estremoz, Portugal.

Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of King Pedro III of Aragon and Constance of Hohenstaufen, Princess of Sicily.

The most popular story of Queen Santa Isabel is without any doubt the miracle of the roses. According to the Portuguese legend, the queen left the Castle of Sabugal in a winter morning to distribute bread to the poor. Surprised by the sovereign, her husband, who asked her where she was going and what she carried in her lap, the Queen exclaimed: they are Roses, Lord! Suspicious, D. Dinis questioned: Roses in January?D. Isabel exposed then the contents of the lap of her dress and, miraculously, there were roses instead of bread.

For the Portuguese, this queen became holy because she dedicated her entire life to helping those in need.

Queen Santa Isabel

Origin of the Name Isabel

Isabel is a biblical name

Meaning of Elizabeth : " THAT DEDICATED TO GOD“.

AS THE OLD TESTAMENT, MARRIED WITH ABRAHAM , AS THE NEW TESTAMENT , progenitor of JOHN THE BAPTIST .

Luís Vaz de Camões

Portuguese poet, son of Simão Vaz de Camões and Ana de Sá de Macedo, Luís Vaz de Camões was born around 1524/1525 and the exact place is unknown.

He is associated to several exiles, one to Ceuta, where he fought as a soldier losing his right eye in combat. 

After returning to Lisbon he was arrested in 1552, in consequence of a quarrel with an officer of the Court. He was released the following year pardoned by the King, according to a letter. He left for India in the same year. According to some authors, it was around this time that he wrote the first book ' Os Lusíadas '. 

He made several steps by India and when returning to Goa his ship sank at the River Mecom, but he saved himself, swimming with one arm and lifting above the waves, the immortal and epic manuscript with the other, according to the legend.

Luís Vaz de Camões

He returned to Lisbon, published "The Lusíadas " and ended up dying in poverty on 10 June 1580, in Lisbon .

A noble gentleman ordered the inscription on his shallow grave: "Here lies Luís de Camões , prince of poets of his time. He lived poor and miserably , and so he died . "

Currently, in Portugal, June 10 is a holiday celebrating the day of Camões , Portugal and the Portuguese Communities.

Luís Vaz de Camões

Origin of the name Luís:

Name of Germanic origin , means " glorious warrior" , "famous warrior" or even "famous in war . "

Comes from the Germanic Chlodovech . This form gave rise to the name Ludwig , who later was adapted in Latin to Ludovicus .

The French turned this name Louis, which led to the versions in English and Spanish , " Louis . "

Brites de Almeida - Aljubarrota Baker

Brites de Almeida, born in Faro in 1350, descended from a poor and humble family that owned a small tavern.

Legend has it that she was a big woman, bony, ugly and with a hooked nose, mouth torn and very curly hair. She intended to be a brave fearless woman.

Brites, had 6 fingers in one hand; it made her parents believe that they had at home a very hardworking woman, which wasn´t exactly the truth. In a way, she tortured her parents lives, who died too early. At 26 Brites de Almeida was already an orphan, but that never affected her.

Eventually, she settled in Aljubarrota and became the owner of a bakery, where she took a more honest life, marrying a farmer of the area.

Brites de Almeida - Aljubarrota Baker

At the time of the battle between the Portuguese and Castilian, these were defeated and seven of them fled from the battlefield to a harbor nearby. They found shelter in the house of Brites which was empty because she had to help in the skirmishes that occurred.

When Brites returned, she found the door locked, then she suspected of the presence of enemies and started looking for Castilians, having found inside the oven 7 of them. Irritated she grabbed her shovel and eventually killed them.

Historians regard Brites de Almeida as a legend, but even so, it is undeniable that the history of this baker became famous and Brites was transformed into a legendary Portuguese character, a hero celebrated by people in their traditional songs and stories, getting known as the Aljubarrota Baker.

Meaning of the name Brites: The sensible

Fernando Pessoa

Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa , also known as Fernando Pessoa, was born on 13 June 1888 in Lisbon .

 

He was the son of Joaquim de Seabra Pessoa and Maria Madalena Pinheiro Nogueira and spent a lot of his childhood and youth in Durban, South Africa, where he studied. He always had good grades.

 

He was a Portuguese poet, philosopher and writer and is considered one of the greatest poets of the Portuguese Language and Universal Literature, often compared to Luís de Camões .

 

Fernando Pessoa

He lived in the period of modernism and his main feature is heteronomy.

 

Pessoa had a very troubled life and left us a vast work which is not yet fully explored. The only work he published in his lifetime was the message .

 

However, after his death, numerous manuscripts were discovered, from poetry to the occult.

The legacy of Fernando Pessoa is undoubtedly one of the greatest treasures of our country.

Fernando Pessoa

Origin of the name Fernando

Means "bold traveller "," travelling the daring." it can also possibly mean "what has the courage to achieve peace."

The origin of the name is the German Ferdinand, Fernando or Fredenando that joins the words Fardi > / i > or farôi , meaning " journey " , and the word nanthi or nano , which means " brave " , "courageous " , " bold " .

Antónia Ferreira – “Ferreirinha”

D. Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, also known as Ferreirinha was a Portuguese businesswoman in the nineteenth century.

She became known for her devotion to growing Port wine. Her family was very wealthy; they had lots of money and vineyards. Her father, José Bernardo Ferreira, did not become interested in the culture of the family and wasted much of the fortune.

D. Antonia had two children: a girl, Maria Asunción, later Countess of Azambuja, and a boy, António Bernardo Ferreira. She became a widow at the age of 33, and from this time she discovered her true vocation as a businesswoman.

Antónia Ferreira – “Ferreirinha”

It is known that Ferreirinha, as she was affectionately known, cared about the families of the workers from their lands and wineries. She was backed by the administrator José da Silva Torres, later her second husband.

Much of the wine was exported to the UK and, even today, is the leading exporter of Port Wine.

When she died in 1896, she left a considerable fortune.

Antónia Ferreira – “Ferreirinha”

Origin of the name Antónia

Antónia's name comes from Latin and means PRICELESS FRIEND

Antónia is a female name that comes from António: Santo António and Anthonios Greek king,of Achaia.

António de Oliveira Salazar

António de Oliveira Salazar was born in 1889 in Santa Comba Dao, a village of Vimieiro. He was the son of a humble overseer.

He graduated in law and took his PhD degree in the same college, becoming a professor. He was known to be a serious, introspective, austere, conservative and catholic man. He founded the Portuguese Catholic centre in 1917.

His party was the academic centre of Christian Democracy, after the National Union.

António de Oliveira Salazar

António de Oliveira Salazar was a politician, and his journey began when he was Minister of Finance during a short period of two weeks following the National Revolution of May 28, 1926, being replaced by the Commander Filomeno da Câmara, after the coup of General Gomes da Costa in the following month. After that, he was also Minister of Finance between 1928 and 1932, proceeding to the reestablishment of the Portuguese public finances.

He established the New State (1933-1974) and its political support, the National Union. Salazar directed the destinies of Portugal, as President of the Ministry, between 1932 and 1933, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers between 1933 and 1968. The authoritarianism that emerged in Europe was widely experienced by Salazar on two complementary fronts: propaganda and repression.

In 1968, after a life dedicated to Portugal, Salazar got sick and eventually died on July 27, 1970 in Lisbon.

António de Oliveira Salazar

Origin of the name António:

Possibly means "valuable," value "invaluable", "priceless"

The origin is Latin Antonius, a Roman family name, originally used only as a last name.

Anthony is a very common name in Portugal, due to Saint Anthony of Lisbon.

Amália Rodrigues

Amália da Piedade Rodrigues, also known as the queen of fado, was a Portuguese fado singer and actress.

She was born on the 23 of July 1920.

She started singing to her grandmother early, mostly popular songs. When she was 9 years old she was attending school, but at 12 she had to interrupt her studies because she couldn’t afford it. At the age of 15 she went to a market to sell fruit and she became known because of her tone of voice when she sang to attract the customers to sell her products. Later she integrates the popular march of Alcântara. Her career starts in 1940. On 1947 she debuts on cinema starring the movie “capas negras”. After this movie she became known worldwide and started acting in big world stages like Paris. She records and edits several albums.

Amália Rodrigues

At 1969, she was awarded by Marcelo Caetano, in an exhibition in Brussels.

At 1976 she records an album Amália no Canecão.

She was a fado singer known worldwide because of the meaning this music genre has in Portuguese culture.

She died when she was 79 years old, on 6 October 1999.

Meaning of the name Amália: Amália means worker, diligent or active and it is a German name.

José Mourinho

José Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho was born in Setúbal, on January 26, 1963.

José Mourinho began his career in the 90s in Estrela da Amadora and Vitória Setúbal, as trainer and then as assistant coach. In the mid, he is hired to work with the English coach Bobby Robson at Sporting Clube de Portugal.

In 2000 comes the opportunity to train a Portuguese team. He is chosen by Sport Lisboa e Benfica to replace Jupp Heynckes.

In season 2001/2002, he trained with great success União Leiria. Eventually helped the Leiria team to make their best score ending in fifth place.

José Mourinho

After that, he returned to FC Porto, ensuring that the following season (2002/2003) they would be champions and fulfilled his promise and won the Portuguese League.

In 2004, José Mourinho left Porto to coach the English team Chelsea.

After achieving great success in England, the club became one of the most important in the country. The Portuguese coach left the London club in September 2007, reaching an agreement with the club owner.

On May 26, 2010 José Mourinho is the new coach of Real Madrid and on April 20, 2012, won his first league title in charge of this team.

 Currently he is Chelsea FC manager again.

José Mourinho

Origin of the name José:

Means "one who adds," "increase of the Lord" or "God multiplies.“

The name Joseph comes from the Hebrew name Yosef, meaning "He will add," referring to God.

Rosa Mota

Rosa Maria Correia dos Santos Mota, known as Rosa Mota, was born in Oporto, on 29 June 1958. She is a Portuguese athlete, already retired.

She was known for her achievements in the Marathon, being regarded as one of the best runners of the twentieth century. The athletics wasn´t her passion, she preferred swimming and cycling, but was forced to opt for athletics because it was the most economical sport.

In 1980, she met José who would later become her coach. She participated in the first women's marathon and, although she wasn´t one of the favourites, Rosa won her first marathon.

Rosa Mota

In 1982, in Athens, she became champion of Europe. After that, she participated and won many marathons throughout her career.

In 1992, Rosa Mota abandoned the competition. However, she is still linked to sport, supporting and promoting initiatives and noble causes.

Rosa Mota

Origin of the name Rosa:

Rose is a female name.

The origin of this name is Latin.

Name of a person who in every circumstance of her life, knows how to value things. Almost always right when choosing her friends and profession. In order to escape from the monotony, likes to make new friends or change jobs.

In Portugal, the name Rose comes from the flower of the same name.