GOAN SURNAMES: By Valmiki Faleiro.

GOAN SURNAMES
By Valmiki Faleiro

Let’s take the topic in two parts: Catholic and Hindu surnames. Catholic surnames
are rooted in the Iberian Peninsula. Because they came from European priests, who
baptized Goa’s first converts.

Iberian surnames are, among other things, after animals, birds, fruits and trees. Like
Cordeiro (lamb), Coelho (rabbit), Leitao (suckling pig), Lobato/Lobo/Lopes (wolf),
Raposo (fox), Aguiar (eagle), Melo (blackbird), Peregrino (vulture), Pinto (chick),
Castanha (chestnut), Figueira (fig), Moreira (mulberry), Nogueira (walnut), Oliveira
(olive), Albuquerque (white oak), Carvalho (oak), Lemos (elm), Pinheiro/Pinho (pine),
Silvano (wood), Silva/Silveira (one from the woods.)

Freedom fighter PP Shirodkar (Sr.) derided such foreign surnames. Prompt was a
riposte from Jose Fernandes of Siolim: "What’s wrong with Carvalho, Pinho, etc. in a
land that has Mensenkai (chilli), Iruli (onion), Zirulli (cockroach) as surnames? These
plants/insects are not Indian either. Is a Bhandari without ‘bhanddar’ (wealth) or a
Jagirdar (landlord) without land any more relevant than a Pinto in the casuarinas?"

Aren’t our homegrown surnames like Ambe (mango), Bhende (ladyfinger), Kande
(onion), Kelekar (bananas), Kunde (bran), Maad (coconut), Sakhardande (sugarcane),
Ghode (horse), Kir (parrot), Kolo (fox), Wagh (tiger) just as endearing? These are in
Konknni. Catholic ones are in Portuguese. Naturally, because they arrived only after
the Portuguese did.

Catholic surnames, from Fernandes to Souza, are – touchstone – egalitarian. Across
social divides. A Fernandes or Souza could be a converted Hindu Brahmin or one from
the lowest in the social pecking order. Regardless of undercurrents below the veneer.
Hindu ones, on the other hand, are based on caste/occupation. Naturally again,
because the caste system is a Hindu phenomenon.

Another feature in many Catholic family names is double (even triple) surnames ...
Barreto Xavier, Correia Afonso, Peres da Costa, Peres da Silva, Santana Silva. There
are several explanations. The ‘Santana,’ for instance, is after the presiding deity of the
Tiswadi village where the family originated. Some families in Margao use ‘Piedade’ as
a twin surname. In honour of Our Lady of Piety, whose chapel stands atop the Monte.
The commonest cause of double surnames, though, was when a live-in son-in-law
(‘ghor-zanvuim’) was brought into a household with no male heir.

Take the Correia Afonso case. In one generation, there were only two ‘Correia’ girls.
The elder, Adelia, married a Mesquita from Cortalim (whence I maternally descend.)
The other, Propercia, married an ‘Afonso’ from Divar – a resident son-in-law of the
Correias of Benaulim. ‘Correia’ became ‘Correia Afonso.’

Chandor’s Braganca family, with that huge mansion at the church square, had three
daughters. One married Dr. Ligorio Cunha from Cuelim-Cansaulim. The surname
mutated to ‘Braganza da Cunha,’ to which was born Tristao Braganza da Cunha.
Suitors were found for the other two daughters. As the house was easily divisible into
two units, both suitors would be resident sons-in-law.

One, a Menezes, must have been a docile man. He agreed to a combined surname
with precedence to the wife’s surname... ‘Menezes de Braganza.’ To this family was
born the great Luis Menezes de Braganza. The second suitor, from Utorda, was no
pushover. He agreed to an adjunct of surnames, but with his own taking precedence…
‘Braganza Pereira.’ To this was born the equally famous A.B. Braganza Pereira –
whose early 20th century work has been recently translated and re-published.
If 16th/17th century European missionaries gave their own surnames to converts,
converted Goan landlords, in turn, thrust their surnames on caretakers of their crops
and orchards. That is how Iberian surnames completed the circle of Goan Catholic
family names across social divides … with a delightful mélange of animals, birds,
fruits, insects, trees!

A bit more on my own surname. My learned Lisbon friend, Antonio Palinha Machado
thinks ‘Faleiro’ smacks of an occupation (related to grain grinding/windmills?) The first
Faleiros in Portuguese history were brothers Rui and Francisco, born in Covilha, in
Portugal's hinterland, circa the XV century. They served kings Joao-II and Manuel-I.
They were leading cosmographers and mathematicians.

Rui Faleiro cracked major breakthroughs with the Arab sextant. Latitude could finally
be measured accurately and longitude could be estimated. Rui was the man behind
Fernao de Magalhaes’ circumnavigation trip, but developed cold feet at eleventh hour,
was convicted of high treason (sailing know-how was top secret), and exiled to Spain.
He died in Seville. Some of his family migrated overseas.

Locally, three clans from Benaulim’s original 12 ‘Vangors’ were Faleiros (‘Zeitol’ in the
local ‘gampny bhaxa.’) Could these, with some Clementes (who definitely comprise the
ninth extant ‘Vangor’ of Benaulim), Coutinhos and Moraes (from the eleventh ‘Vangor’
of Margao Comunidade) have shifted from Benaulim to Margao in ancient times? One
will never know. What one knows is that one Margao ‘gavnkar,’ Moraes, resettled in
Benaulim during the Portuguese era. Coincidence? (ENDS.)

The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column.

Awards to Indian Students in Kuwait

Awards to Indian Students in Kuwait

I take this opportunity to congratulate the Indian students and their parents in Kuwait who have been bestowed with the highest recognition by way of cash awards, gold, silver and bronze medals given the Association of Indian Profressionals (AIP)-Kuwait Times. On behalf of the Goan community I thank AIP and Kuwait Times for their contribution and support to Indian students studying/who have studied in Kuwait. The list of awardees was indeed impressive and include the following: Class XII Science Stream Gold/Silver Medals: Gold : Coral Winona Pais – Carmel School, Silver : Shreedhar Anant Hardikar – Carmel School. Class XII Commerce Stream Gold/Silver Medals: Gold : Ajay Abraham – UIS, Silver: Fatema Salehhussain – UIS, Class X Hindi Stream Gold/Silver Medals: Gold : Esha Uboweja – FAIPS (DPS), Silver : Maria Antony K – ICS, Class X French Stream Gold/Silver Medals: Gold : Arifa Alam – FAIPS (DPS), Silver : Akilla Srikrishna – FAIPS (DPS) and Revati Suresh - FAIPS (DPS), 100% marks (class XII) Silver Medals: Sultana Mahfuz – Computer Science – FAIPS(DPS), 100% marks (class X) Silver Medals: Suresh Muthukumar – (Maths) – Carmel, Akilla Srikrishna – (maths) – FAIPS(DPS), Pritha Hait – (Maths) – FAIPS (DPS), Deepak Dhanavel Kumar - (Maths) – FAIPS (DPS), Ankit Agarwal - (Maths) – FAIPS (DPS), Arundhuti Mahato - (Maths) – FAIPS (DPS), Prashanth Krishnan - (Maths) – FAIPS (DPS), Madhavapeddi Siddharth - (Maths) – FAIPS (DPS), Esha Uboweja – (Soc. St.) – FAIPS(DPS), Jaimee Jacob Palakeel – (Maths) – ICSK, Emil Joseph - (Maths) – Indian English Academy (Don Bosco), Angela Maria Pallickal – (Maths) – GIS, Evelyn Paulose – (Maths) – GIS, Ashwathi V. Anil – (Maths) – GIS, Anjali Anna Thomas – (Maths) – UIS, Thomas Jebi – (Maths) – UIS, Rajagopalan Chadramouli – (Maths) – UIS, Sakina Hasan – (Maths) - IPS, Maria Antony K – (Maths) – ICS, Muhammed Jezin – (Maths) – ICS, Shyama Aziz – (Maths) - ICS, 90% Aggregate or Above( Class XII ) - Bronze Medals: FAIPS (DPS) - Radha Kura (92.4), Sultana Mahfuz (90.8), Tulika Gupta (90.0), GIS - Mekha Kadavileveetil Mathew (92.0), Sana Sabir Damani (90.2), Carmel School - Muriel Belinda Mascarenhas (93.4), Christabelle Careen Santos (93.2), Varghese Rosh Pyyampallil (93.2), Juby Joseph Ninan (91.8), Shobek Sam Attupurath (90), Devyani Upadhyay (90), ICSK - Rasika Sanjay Jangle (92.4), Pinto Sonal (92), Challawal Abdulqadir (91.4), Feba Thomas (90.8), Narayan Parasuram (90.4), Juhi Elizabeth Cyriac (90), Vasist Nikita (90.8), Gemita Thankam George (90.4) - ICS: Annie Verghese (91.8), UIS: Vilma John Thomas (91), 90% Aggregate or Above( Class X) Bronze Medals: FAIPS (DPS) - Arifa Alam (95.6), Mahjabeen Ahmed Khan (95), Anita Narayana Bhat (94.6), Deepak Dhanavel Kumar (94.4), Sara Mathew (92.6), Tasneem Ashraf (92.6), Ankit Agarwal (92.6), Arubdhuti Mahato (92.2), Sanjana Veerarajan (91.6), Prashanth Krishnan (91.2), Pranay Mehta (90.6), Dipika Dinesh (90.4), Divya Susan Thomas (90), Sana Ahmad (90), Krit Dwivedi (90); GIS - Angela Maria Pallickal (95.2), Shilpa Rajeev (95), Shilpa Susan Mathew (94.2), Evelyn Paulose (93), Sharanya Ramakrishnan (92.6), Anusha Sevgoor Kamath (91), Akash Goel (90.4), Ashwanthi V.Anil (90.4), Joel Mathew Thomas (90.4), Sagar Sabir Damani (90.2), Indian English Academy School: Kriti Gupta (92), Fawad Shafik Dalwal (91.8), Dev Agarwal (91), Carmel School - Aishwaraya Ramesh (92.6), Eleanore Evelyn Dias (92.2), Fancine Enrica Mascarenhas (92.2), Murtaza Saifuddin Kagzi (92), Dylon Bosco Fernandes (91.8), Suresh Muthukumar (91.8), Tishana Elizabeth John (91.2), Nandita Mariam Jacob (91), Ramola Helena lewis (91), Rachel Romana Silveira (90.4), ICSK: Khadija Mustaq Dalvi (92), Alina Helen (91.4), Fatema Jiwaali (90.2), Abdul Hussain (90.2), Andaleeb Fazal Girkar (90), Marin Mariyam Mathew (95.2), Sharon Grace Philip (92.6), Jaimee Jacob Palakeel (92), Afdal Mohd. Basheer (91.8), Lakshmi Velayudhan Nair (91.6), Sabrina George Thomas (91.2), Paul Verghese Perumatthil (91.2), Deepthy Mariyam George (90.8), Edoly Kandy Amina Abdurazak (90.6), Neeba T. Abraham (90.4), UIS - Akhil Thomas Jacob (92.6), Anjali Anna Thomas (92), Nivedita George (91.2), Sherin Anna Kurian (90.2), Sherin Rose Francis (90), IPS - Sahsha D'melo (91), Sakina (90.6), Indian Central School - Sifat Billah Chowdhery (91.8), Amal Mahmood (91.4), Shyama Aziz (91), Tasneem (90.4)

Among the Goans students who excelled and were bestowed with the highest recognition in the midst of hundreds of attendees at the well organized 'Award Nite' on last Friday is Miss. Christabelle Careen Santos (who scored 93.2% marks) and who is the only Goan to achieve this position from the Carmel School, Kheitan. Knowing her parents, Carmo & Carrie Santos, I do have this great honour to congratulate both of them.

The ceremony held to honor Class XII and Class X Indian students at the Indian Community School in Salmiya and scores of students, parents, principals from various Indian schools attended the event at the Indian Community School premises was well organized.

Incidentally a not-so-much advertised Awards ceremony of less than 5 minutes was organized by Kala Mogui Kuwait on behalf of Goan Welfare Society (GWS) during the Gulab Carol Singing Competition and hardly a few heads were present. To say the least not a single student was present and only the GWS committee members except for one parent received the awards! GWS has collected so much funds and it is hard to believe that they cannot even organize a Christmas Tree, Goa Day or a Awards ceremony on their own. The so-called committee members are just all talk and cannot do the 'walk' for anything worthy of calling a community activity. I question the mindset of the committee and also the award donors, Mr. & Mrs. Sam Alphonso, why was the topmost Goan student left out of the awards and that too the daughter of GWS ex-president, Carmo Santos?

Is it the usual crab mentality of the GWS committee members? Goans in Kuwait and members of GWS, think about this fiasco! Is this a way to celebrate the joyous occasion of Christmas by organizing such a disastrous 5 minute award ceremony? Is this the Goan hospitality that the committee members of GWS wish to portray to the Indians and residents of Kuwait. What is the use of the funds that have been accumulated through the hard work of the past members which runs into thousands of Kuwaiti Dinars. By the way, what about the money collected in the past 3 years in the name of GWS awards from the donors? Why is it not announced yet? Who pocketed the funds? Goans wish to have some answers and corrective measures to be taken immediately before the situation gets out of hand and the money collected going down the drain?

Once again congratulations to the AIP and my favourite Kuwait Times publication and its publisher and editor and to the students and parents and the school adminstrators. In the name of the Goan community, I wish each and everyone a happy new year 2009.

(Name withheld on request)