OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Portuguese Name Generator
Portugal's Classic and Modern Given Names with Mother-Then-Father Surnames
OneTask is free, with no sign-up, and built by one person.
If this tool saved you time, a coffee helps keep new ones coming.
How the Portuguese Name Generator works
This portuguese name generator mixes real naming patterns into new names. Generate Portuguese names from Portugal, built the Portuguese way with the mother's surname before the father's: Leonor Silva Santos, Francisco Pereira Costa. The classic option adds the compound names of the older generation, Maria de Fátima, José Manuel. Choose female, male or either and generate up to a hundred.
Portuguese name generator: choosing a name that fits
Portuguese names look like Spanish ones and work the other way round. A Portuguese person carries at least two surnames, but the mother's family name comes first and the father's comes last, so it is the last surname that matters: Francisco Pereira Costa is senhor Costa, the son of a Costa father and a Pereira mother. Many Portuguese carry three or four surnames, since parents may pass on more than one of their own, and the full name on a passport can run to six words. Married women traditionally added the husband's surname to the end, though it is optional and less common now.
The surnames are a short list carried by a very large population. Silva, from the Latin for forest, is the commonest surname in the Portuguese-speaking world, and Santos, Ferreira the smith, Pereira the pear tree, Oliveira the olive tree, Costa the coast, and the patronymics Rodrigues, Martins, Fernandes, Gonçalves, Lopes, with their -es rather than the Spanish -ez, account for a large share of the country. Tree and landscape names are the distinctive Portuguese type, and the list here keeps them prominent.
Portuguese first names are governed by an official list, so parents in Portugal choose from approved forms in Portuguese spelling, which keeps the stock recognisably national. The classic generation is religious and formal: for women Maria followed by a Marian title, Maria de Fátima after the shrine, Maria da Conceição, Maria de Lurdes, or by a second name, Maria Fernanda; for men António, Manuel, José, Joaquim, often doubled, José Manuel, António Carlos. Since the 2000s the lists have swung to short names from Portuguese history, Leonor, Matilde, Beatriz, Francisco, Santiago, Afonso, Duarte, Martim, and the Modern option gives those, sometimes with two first names, since Portuguese people commonly have two.
For the Brazilian branch, where the same surnames meet a much freer first-name culture, the Brazilian page; for the Spanish system with the surnames in the opposite order, the Spanish page.
FAQ
Which surname do I use for a Portuguese person?
The last one. In Portugal the father's surname comes last and is the one used in daily life, so Leonor Silva Santos is senhora Santos. This is the reverse of the Spanish order and a common source of error in databases.
Why do Portuguese names have so many parts?
Because each parent can pass on more than one surname, and a child can legally carry up to four. Two first names plus four surnames is possible. Most people use one first name and the last surname day to day.
What is Maria de Fátima?
A compound first name: Maria plus a Marian title, here after the shrine of Fátima. The older generation of Portuguese women carry many of these, Maria da Conceição, Maria de Lurdes, Maria do Céu, and are usually called by the second part, Fátima, Lurdes, Céu.
Are the accents and cedillas important?
Yes. Gonçalves, Conceição, António, Inês and Luís are written with them in Portugal, and dropping them marks a name as typed by an outsider. Note that Portugal writes António where Brazil writes Antônio.
Can I use these names for fiction or test data?
Yes. They are combinations of ordinary names and cannot be owned. A common combination may coincide with a real person, so a name that will be attached to something public deserves a quick search. Names with three or four surnames are a good test for forms that assume one.
See also: all Culture & Language tools, People, Fantasy & RPG, Sci-fi, Online & Social, Business & Brand, Places & Things.
Related tools
1920s Name Generator
Jazz Age names, from Chester Vanderbeck III to Millie Kowalski the flapper.
1940s Name Generator
Popular girls' and boys' names from the 1940s, US and UK.
1950s Name Generator
Post-war names from Linda Sue Patterson to Gary Kowalczyk and Brenda Whitfield.
1960s Name Generator
Popular girls' and boys' names from the Swinging Sixties.
1980s Name Generator
Eighties names from Jennifer Nicole Thompson to Jason Nguyen and Gemma Louise Hopkins.