Freitas is a very common surname in Madeira Autonomous Region, Portugal. Its origin seems related to the 300-million-year-old 'Birthing Stones' phenomenon which occurs in remote northern Portugal, locally called Pedra Parideira, particularly in the village of Castanheira, nestled into the site of Freita Mountain, Arouca Geopark. [1]
According to the Dictionary of American Family Names citing Oxford University Press, it is a topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of stony ground, from Portuguese (Pedras) Freitas ‘Broken Stones’ Late Latin (Petrae) Fractae. [2]
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Coat of arms of family name Freitas -
Birthing Stone from Serra da Freita, in the Geological Museum of Lisbon
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- ^ Fox, Esme. "Portugal's mysterious 'birthing stones'". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
- ^ Hanks, Patrick (2003-05-08). Dictionary of American Family Names: 3-Volume Set. Oxford University Press. p. 603. ISBN 978-0-19-508137-4.
If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.
Freitas is a very common surname in Madeira Autonomous Region, Portugal. Its origin seems related to the 300-million-year-old 'Birthing Stones' phenomenon which occurs in remote northern Portugal, locally called Pedra Parideira, particularly in the village of Castanheira, nestled into the site of Freita Mountain, Arouca Geopark. [1]
According to the Dictionary of American Family Names citing Oxford University Press, it is a topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of stony ground, from Portuguese (Pedras) Freitas ‘Broken Stones’ Late Latin (Petrae) Fractae. [2]
-
Coat of arms of family name Freitas
-
Birthing Stone from Serra da Freita, in the Geological Museum of Lisbon
- ^ Fox, Esme. "Portugal's mysterious 'birthing stones'". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
- ^ Hanks, Patrick (2003-05-08). Dictionary of American Family Names: 3-Volume Set. Oxford University Press. p. 603. ISBN 978-0-19-508137-4.
If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.