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Topic starter
24/07/2026 1:44 pm
As promised during my conversation with @diego on the oldest living men in Portugal thread a while back, here is a thread for all of us to share unusual names we've found during our investigations. This is not, of course, intended as mockery of said names; think of it more as a celebration of (extreme in some cases) naming creativity!
Among my own finds during genealogical research and investigation of (super)centenarian cases, I have come across (and these are off the top of my head, if I remember others later, I'll add them):
- A boy baptised as "Xisto Manuel" ("Xisto" is the name of a saint ("Sixtus"/"Xystus" in English), but it also means "schist", and the fact this unusual first given name was paired with the very common Manuel as a second given name makes it funnier to me);
- A man whose full name was Gentil Homem (lit. "Gentle Man");
- A man with the given name "Bomfilho" (lit. "Goodson");
- A man whose full name was "Domingos Se Deus Quiser" ("Domingos God Willing" or "Domingos If God Wills It") (@diego, this sounds almost like he could be a relation of Vicente Mais ou Menos de Souza, these names actually fit well together!);
- Several girls baptised with the first given name "Imperatriz" ("Empress"), though this seemed to be somewhat common in some regions of the north of the country.
ESO Correspondent for Portugal (since 2026)
____
When the young commander of the guard declared his love for her, she rejected him simply because his frivolity startled her. "See how simple he is," she told Amaranta. "He says that he’s dying because of me, as if I were a bad case of colic."
-One Hundred Years of Solitude
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24/07/2026 2:15 pm
Santa Fiducia, italian SC:
"Holy Trust"...
https://longeviquest.com/supercentenarian/rosa-pesce/
Pesce Rosa, italian SC:
"Pink Fish"
https://longeviquest.com/supercentenarian/angela-case/
Angela Case, italian SC:
"Angel Houses"
https://longeviquest.com/supercentenarian/valentino-stella/
Valentino Stella, italian SC:
"Go slow Star"
This post was modified 3 weeks ago by Ale76
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25/07/2026 9:46 pm
I find these names really creative; personally, I love this kind of creativity that people demonstrate when naming their children — going beyond the common.
I hope more examples emerge.
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26/07/2026 12:30 am
Spanish SC Ángeles de la Fuente (1912-2023): her name literally means "Angels from the fountain"
Spanish SC Felicidad Hernández (1913- Living): Her six older siblings were all men, so when she was born, her parents called her Felicidad (Happiness or Felicity in english) as they finally had a daughter and not another son.
Spanish centenarian Argentino Martínez (1915-2023): he was born in Argentina, so I guess his parents called him Argentino as a tribute to the place where he was born...
This post was modified 3 weeks ago by siam
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08/08/2026 2:12 am
I was watching the World U20 Athletics Championships when I came across a very curious surname belonging to a Portuguese athlete:
Iara Vacondeus—which, when translated into English, means "Go with God."
Here is a news story about her.
https://revistaatletismo.com/iara-vacondeus-uma-jovem-promessa-barreirista-com-o-sonho-olimpico/
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08/08/2026 6:48 am
Spanish centenarian Argentino Martínez (1915-2023): he was born in Argentina, so I guess his parents called him Argentino as a tribute to the place where he was born...
There have even been times where parents have named their child after the country they want them to have been born in. My great-grandfather, who was born in Italy, was named after America ("Amerigo") because he was supposedly conceived while his parents were on vacation in the USA. They apparently felt very patriotic about the country, and were eager to move there permanently, but only ended up doing this when my great-grandfather was about 8, so he went nearly the first decade of his life before he ever stepped foot in the country he was named after. This might make a bit more sense when you consider that America was named after an Italian (Amerigo Vespucci), but I still think it's a fairly unusual circumstance. While he died in his late 70s, he did have a familial connection to a SC, as one of his sisters-in-law lived to 110.
Profile picture: Marita Camacho Quirós (1911-2025)
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Topic starter
08/08/2026 10:03 am
@diego Yes, that surname is actually somewhat well-known (though, granted, not the most common) due to chef Filipa Vacondeus (1933-2015). It's kind of a "cousin" of the "Se Deus Quiser" I mentioned earlier in terms of meaning, I remember seeing several people with the surname "Vá Com Deus" (which eventually became "Vacondeus" over time) in the same region during my investigations.
ESO Correspondent for Portugal (since 2026)
____
When the young commander of the guard declared his love for her, she rejected him simply because his frivolity startled her. "See how simple he is," she told Amaranta. "He says that he’s dying because of me, as if I were a bad case of colic."
-One Hundred Years of Solitude
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09/08/2026 4:08 pm
Another quite curious surname belongs to the oldest living person in the US, Naomi Whitehead; the name "Whitehead" aptly illustrates her current status—it is almost prophetic.
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