Valladares - Family Origin

Family Origin

The family traces its origins and ancestry to Mumbai, India, but since Indian Independence in 1947, has spread to the UK, US, Canada, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. Despite this the extended family retains a close association and continues to share a family identity through blogs, networking sites such as Facebook and traditional means of communication. Recognition of this family identity and shared heritage, is fostered by middle-aged members who grew up in India and are anxious to ensure that their children retain a shared identity and sense of belonging. The strategy employed is sharing of photos, recipes, video clips, personal news and anecdotes which are intended to consolidate memories of what really is an imagined "home" and to provide emotional support - basically to enjoy the benefits of the extended Indian family across vast geographical distances, while bypassing the negative aspects of this structure. This sense of shared identity appears to persist even among younger members of the family who have different nationalities (different strands in their ancestral heritage) and were not born in India.

The name Valladares itself, is not an Indian surname in that it does not have its roots in Hindu India, though members of the family would definitely drawn their genetic and cultural inheritance from that gene pool - among others. 'Valladares' as a name, has its origins in part of Galicia, currently between Spain and Portugal, near Pontevedra. It comes from the word "valladar", meaning "fence". The name was accepted by members of the local population on the west coast of India, when they converted from their local faith to Christianity. The practice, at that time, was to adopt the converting padre's (priest), family name or the name of the new convert's sponsor.

One Valladares family has some of its roots in Duarte's Oart in Girguam, Mumbai, (NB: Oart is a Portuguese word which referred to groves or plantations of coconut trees) but there still are branches of the family in Kalina, Matarpacady and Bandra.