Mangalorean Catholic Name - Surnames

Surnames

After the Portuguese possession of Goa in 1510, the Portuguese consolidated their power by imposing their own government and cultural institutions in Goa. They also started spreading Christianity in Goa and converted a large population to Christianity. The Christians adopted Portuguese surnames, customs and traditions. Later due to various religious, political, economic, cultural, social causes such as the religious intolerance of the Goa Inquisition (1560), pressures and attacks from the Marathas in Goa during the late 17th and the early 18th century, food shortages, epidemics, heavy taxation, the Goan Catholics started migrating to safer lands in South Canara, where they were welcomed.

After these Goan migrants settled in South Canara, they came to be known as Mangalorean Catholics, and continued using Portuguese surnames bestowed to their ancestors by the Portuguese. Some families, however, still use their original Goud Saraswat Brahmin surnames such as Prabhu, Kamat, Shet, Naik, Pai, and Shenoy. These original surnames are actually the names of five classes of persons and originally mean "lord, cultivator, merchant, warrior and writer". To capture their tradition, many have reverted to their original family surnames. Four of these are Goud Saraswat Brahmin surnames, with the exception of Shet that is used by a few who trace their origins to the Daivadnya Brahmins of Goa. A minuscule percentage descended from local converts still use the surname Padval. These ancestral pre-conversion surnames of the Mangalorean Catholics are called paik in Konkani. Mudartha is a unique Mangalorean Catholic surname to be found among some who hail from the Udupi district.

Presently, Portuguese surnames are also observed in Goan Catholics and East Indian Catholics and some other Christians in India. Portuguese surnames are very popular across the world and significantly found in Portugal, Brazil, Macau, Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe and Mozambique.

Bold indicates common surnames
Italics indicates uncommon surnames