History of the Pereira name - Anglo-Indian Project

The surname ‘Pereira’ is as common in areas of Portuguese influence as the name ‘Smith’ is in England. Its origins can be found in medieval Portugal, forcibly adopted by Portuguese Jews in the fifteenth century. Over the next century these New Christians took the name to France, the Netherlands, England and Ireland. Other Jews took the name into the Ottoman Empire and North Africa. The name was further spread to Brazil, West Africa, the Carribbean, the islands of the Atlantic (Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verde) and to the new Portuguese possessions in Asia. The name was spread in India through the forced conversion of Muslims and Hindus, though there was some miscegenation between Portuguese sailors, soldiers, convicts (Degradados) or merchants, and Hindu women. (Pereira, 2009: 15-21)

Links:

FIBIS factfile 1: Researching Anglo-Indian ancestry. Cliff Pereira p15-21: http://www.fibis.org/store/fibis-books-and-publications/bff-0001-researching-anglo-indian-ancestry/

Wiki: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pereira_(surname)

Ancestry: http://www.ancestry.co.uk/name-origin?surname=pereir

Cover picture credit: Wiki

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