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NAMES ANALYSIS REPORT

You searched for:"Lopez",
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The English meaning of Lopez is Son of Lopo.
The name Lopez is of Portuguese origin.
There are many indicators that the name Lopez may be of Jewish origin, emanating from the Jewish communities of Spain and Portugal.

When the Romans conquered the Jewish nation in 70 CE, much of the Jewish population was sent into exile throughout the Roman Empire. Many were sent to the Iberian Peninsula. The approximately 750,000 Jews living in Spain in the year 1492 were banished from the country by royal decree of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Jews of Portugal, were banished several years later. Reprieve from the banishment decrees was promised to those Jews who converted to Catholicism. Though some converted by choice, most of these New-Christian converts were called CONVERSOS or MARRANOS (a derogatory term for converts meaning pigs in Spanish), ANUSIM (meaning "coerced ones" in Hebrew) and CRYPTO-JEWS, as they secretly continued to practice the tenets of the Jewish faith.

Our research has found that the family name Lopez is cited with respect to Jews & Crypto-Jews in at least 100 bibliographical, documentary, or electronic references:

From the records of Bevis Marks, The Spanish and Portuguese Congregation of London

Bevis Marks is the Sephardic synagogue in London. It is over 300 years old and is the oldest still in use in Britain.The Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London has published several volumes of its records: they can be found in libraries such as the Cambridge University Library or the London Metropolitan Archive


From the burial register of Bethahaim Velho Cemetery, Published by the Jewish Historical Society of England and transcribed by R. D. Barnett.

The register gives us dates for the burials in the "Bethahaim Velho" or Old Cemetery. The dates are listed as per the Jewish calendar.


Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy, by Dan Rottenberg

In this work Dan Rottenberg shows how to do a successful search for probing the memories of living relatives, by examining marriage licenses, gravestones, ship passenger lists, naturalization records, birth and death certificates, and other public documents, and by looking for clues in family traditions and customs. Supplementing the "how to" instructions is a guide to some 8,000 Jewish family names, giving the origins of the names, sources of information about each family, and the names of related families whose histories have been recorded. Other features included a country-by-country guide to tracing Jewish ancestors abroad, a list of Jewish family history books, and a guide to researching genealogy.


A History of the Marranos, by Cecil Roth.

The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 by the infamous decree of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella was the culmination of a series of anti-Jewish persecutions throughout the 14th and 15th centuries in which thousands of Jews were massacred. Thousands of others converted in order to escape death. After the expulsion many more joined the ranks of these "new Christians" as an alternative to exile. A large number of converts, while outwardly professing Christianity, secretly continued to practice Judaism. These Marranos, as they were popularly known, were then mercilessly persecuted by the dreaded Inquisition which through tortures of forced confessions and auto-da-fes sent thousands to the stake. Many others managed to escape to countries outside the reach of the Inquisition where they created a widespread Marrano diaspora. Thousands of Marranos have survived even into our times. This seminal work by the eminent historian traces the tribulation of these secret Judaizers as well as the fate of those who succeeded in escaping to other lands where many of them rose to prominence in various fields of endeavor.


Jews in Colonial Brazil, by Arnold Wiznitzer

Professor Wiznitzer gathered detailed information about individual Jewish settlers in colonial Brazil and about cases where they were brought before the Inquisition at Lisbon, and his study throws new light on some phases of Brazilian colonial history. Many Jews fled to Brazil and others were deported to the colony as convicted heretics after the King of Portugal attemtped to compel all of his Jewish subjects to accept Christianity in 1497.They were active in the establishment of the sugar industry and in trade, and they maintained close relations with another large group of exiles who had taken refuge in Amsterdam.Most of the "new Christians" continued to practice the old religion secretly.


Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation, by Miriam Bodian

This work explores why the Portuguese Jews of northern Europe never established a solid sense of belonging to the wider Sephardi diaspora. It explores how, historically, the Conversos lost the consciousness of being “Sephardi” in the generations after the expulsion from Spain and the mass baptism of Portugal’s Jews in 1497. To be sure, once the Portuguese ex-Conversos organized in Jewish communities, their leaders made efforts to reconnect with the wider Sephardi world, and these efforts had serious symbolic and strategic value. But the Portuguese Jews’ rootedness in the Converso experience meant that their core sense of collective self remained distinct. Contributing factors to their enduring sense of distinctness were these aspects of Converso experience: the absorption of Catholic notions of piety; the “de-rabbinization” of crypto-Jewish belief; and the difficulty for many Conversos of maintaining any stable set of traditional beliefs. The outward image their leaders sought to cultivate may have been one of Sephardi traditionalism, but, at an emotional level, members of these communities continued to regard themselves as members of the “nação”—a term that evoked the Converso past.


The Sephardim of England, by Albert M. Hyamson

A history of the Spanish & Portugese Jewish Community, 1492-1951.


Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews, by David Gitlitz

Despite the increased attention given to Hispano-Jewish topics, and the "conversos" or Crypto-Jews in particular, this is the first thorough compilation of their customs and practices. The author has culled from Inquisition documents and other sources to paint a portrait of the richness and diversity of Crypto-Jewish practices in Spain, Portugal, and the New World. The history of Spanish Jews, or Sephardim, stretches back to biblical times. The Jews of Spain and Portugal made formative contributions to all Hispanic cultures, the impact of which is first being measured and recognized today. The Sephardim experienced a Golden Age in Iberia between 900-1100, during which they acted as the intermediaries between the rival political and cultural worlds of Islam and Christianity. This Golden Age ended with the Reconquest of Spain by Catholic overlords, though for another 300 years the Jews continued to contribute to Iberian life. In 1391 and again in 1492, intense and violent social pressures were put upon the Jews to join the larger Christian community. Many Jews converted, often unwillingly. In 1492 the remaining Jews were exiled from Spain. The converted Jews (Conversos) became an underclass in Spanish society. Many of them clung tenaciously to Jewish practices in the face of torture and death at the hands of the Inquisition. Having lost contact with other Jews, these people developed a religion which was an admixture of Catholic and Jewish rituals. David Gitlitz examines these practices in detail and attempts to answer the question of whether the Conversos were in fact Jewish. Gitlitz's research is exhaustive. He has combed through thousands of Inquistion records, showing that a sense of "Jewishness" if not Jewish practice remained a core value of many Spaniards' lives well into the 1700s. Gitlitz is convincing in showing that the Inquisition unwittingly aided crypto-Jews in perpetuating themselves by publishing Edicts of Faith. Essentially checklists for informers, they described the behavior of "Judaizers" (sometimes the practices listed were absurd or simply erroneous). These, ironically, were used by Judaizers as guides to religious behavior. It is revealing that as the Inquisition faded, crypto-Judaism waned, though never totally vanished. Gitlitz's knowledge and research on the subject is encyclopedic. The book is written in a "textbook" style which makes it somewhat technical and dry, though it is enlivened by excerpts from Inquisition records, which Gitlitz has apparently chosen for their interest, irony, unintended comedy, or spiritedness. It is difficult to imagine that human beings would face the tortures of the rack for not eating pork. That these same tortured people could summon the will to laugh at their executioners is something wondrous. The book includes the names of the Sephardim (and sometimes their residences too).


The Jews of Jamaica, by Richard D. Barnett and Philip Wright.Oron Yoffe, Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem, 1997.

The product of many years of painstaking research by two late scholars, Richard D. Barnett and Philip Wright, this volume presents the texts or summaries of 1456 tombstone inscriptions of Jews who lived in Jamaica between 1663, when the British ousted the Spanish, and 1880, when systematic registration of deaths was introduced. Jewish families who had fled the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal settled in Jamaica in increasing numbers during that time. Ashkenazic Jews also settled there in the eighteenth century. The Jews played a significant part in developing the island's natural resources and its international trade. Featuring detailed indexes by name, date and language, The Jews of Jamaica is a valuable tool for the study of immigration to the Americas, the surnames, given names and genealogy of Sephardi Jews. The texts of the inscriptions, many of them in three languages (Hebrew, English and Portuguese or Spanish), are of cultural interest and sometimes refer to dramatic events in the lives of the Jewish residents of Jamaica during a turbulent period.


Sangre Judia (Jewish Blood) by Pere Bonnin. Flor de Viento, Barcelona, 2006. A list of 3,500 names used by Jews, or assigned to Jews by the Holy Office (la Santo Oficio) of Spain. The list is a result of a census of Jewish communities of Spain by the Catholic Church and as found in Inquisition records.

Pere Bonnin, a philosopher, journalist and writer from Sa Pobla (Mallorca), a descendant of converted Jews, settles with this work a debt "owed to his ancestors", in his own words. The book, written in a personal and accessible style and based on numerous sources, includes a review of basic Jewish concepts, Jewish history in Spain, and Christian Anti-Semitism. There is also a section that focuses on the reconciliation between the Church and Monarchy and the Jews, which took place in the 20th Century. In this study, Bonnin deals in depth with the issue of surnames of Jewish origin. In the prologue, the author explains the rules he followed in the phonetic transcription of surnames of Hebrew origin that are mentioned in the book. The researcher cites the Jewish origin, sometimes recognized and other times controversial, of historically prominent figures (like Cristobal Colon, Hernan Cortes, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and many others) and links between surnames of Jewish origin with some concepts in Judaism.. The book also includes an appendix with more than three thousands surnames "suspected" of being Jewish, because they appear in censuses of the Jewish communities and on the Inquisitorial lists of suspected practitioners of Judaism, as well as in other sources. In the chapter "Una historia de desencuentro", the author elaborates on surnames of Jewish origin of the royalty, nobility, artistocracy, clergy, and also of writers, educators and university teachers during the Inquisition. Special attention is given to the "Chuetas" of Mallorca, the birthplace of the author.


Raizes Judaicas No Brasil,(Jewish Roots in Brazil) by Flavio Mendes de Carvalho.

This book contains names of New Christians or Brazilians living in Brazil condemned by the Inquisition in the 17th and 18th centuries, as taken from the archives of Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. Many times details including date of birth, occupation, name of parents, age, and location of domicile are also included. The list also includes the names of the relatives of the victims. There are several cases in which many members of the same family were tortured and sentenced so some family lines may end here.


Noble Families Among The Sephardic Jews, by Isaac Da Costa, Bertram Brewster, and Cecil Roth.

This book provides genealogy information about many of the more famous Sephardic families of Iberia, England and Amsterdam. It documents the assimilation, name changes and conversion of many Sephardic families in Spain, England and The Netherlands. There is a large section dealing with the genealogy of the members of Capadose and Silva families in Spain and Portugal. This reference includes genealogical tables and a translation of Da Costa’s 1850 work "Israel and the Gentiles", with chapters by Bertram Brewster on the Capadose conversion to Christianity and by Cecil Roth on their Jewish history.


A Origem Judaica dos Brasileiros (The Origin of The Brazilian Jews), by Jose Geraldo Rodrigues de Alckmin Filho

This publication contains a list of 517 Sephardic families punished by the inquisition in Portugal and Brazil.


The Circumcision Register of Isaac and Abraham De Paiba (1715-1775) from the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of Bevis Marks (London. England).

This register is from the manuscript record preserved in the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London named "Sahar Asamaim" transcribed, translated and edited by the late R.D. Barnett, with the assistance of Alan Rose, I.D. Duque and others; There is also a supplement with a record of circumcisions 1679-1699, marriages 1679-1689 and some female births 1679-1699, compiled by Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira. The register includes surnames of those circumsized as well as the names of their Godfathers & Godmothers.


The Circumcision Register of Isaac and Abraham De Paiba (1715-1775) from the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of Bevis Marks(London. England).

The circumcision register of Isaac and Abraham de Paiba (1715-1775): from the manuscript record preserved in the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London named "Sahar Asamaim" transcribed, translated and edited by the late R.D. Barnett, with the assistance of Alan Rose, I.D. Duque and others; There is also a supplement with a record of circumcisions 1679-1699, marriages 1679-1689 and some female births 1679-1699, compiled by Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira. The register includes surnames of those circumsized as well as the names of their Godfathers & Godmothers.


From the burial register of Bethahaim Velho Cemetery, Published by the Jewish Historical Society of England and transcribed by R. D. Barnett.

The register gives us dates for the burials in the "Bethahaim Velho" or Old Cemetery. The dates are listed as per the Jewish calendar.


Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy, by Dan Rottenberg

In this work Dan Rottenberg shows how to do a successful search for probing the memories of living relatives, by examining marriage licenses, gravestones, ship passenger lists, naturalization records, birth and death certificates, and other public documents, and by looking for clues in family traditions and customs. Supplementing the "how to" instructions is a guide to some 8,000 Jewish family names, giving the origins of the names, sources of information about each family, and the names of related families whose histories have been recorded. Other features included a country-by-country guide to tracing Jewish ancestors abroad, a list of Jewish family history books, and a guide to researching genealogy.


The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New World, by Seymour B. Liebman. Reports the names of people who appeared before the inquisition in the New Spain

Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.


The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New World, by Seymour B. Liebman.Reports the names of people who appeared before the inquisition in New Granada

Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.


The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New World, by Seymour B. Liebman. Reports the names of people who appeared before the inquisition in El Peru.

Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.


A History of the Marranos, by Cecil Roth.

The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 by the infamous decree of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella was the culmination of a series of anti-Jewish persecutions throughout the 14th and 15th centuries in which thousands of Jews were massacred. Thousands of others converted in order to escape death. After the expulsion many more joined the ranks of these "new Christians" as an alternative to exile. A large number of converts, while outwardly professing Christianity, secretly continued to practice Judaism. These Marranos, as they were popularly known, were then mercilessly persecuted by the dreaded Inquisition which through tortures of forced confessions and auto-da-fes sent thousands to the stake. Many others managed to escape to countries outside the reach of the Inquisition where they created a widespread Marrano diaspora. Thousands of Marranos have survived even into our times. This seminal work by the eminent historian traces the tribulation of these secret Judaizers as well as the fate of those who succeeded in escaping to other lands where many of them rose to prominence in various fields of endeavor.


Precious Stones of the Jews in Curaçao; Curaçaon Jewry 1656-1957, by Isaac Samuel Emmanuel (1957)

Names taken from 225 tombstones of 2536 persons, 1668 - 1859, men, women and some Rabbis. Includes cemetery history and plan, biographies including family histories, chronological list of names, alphabetical list of family names + number of members + eldest tombstone year, large bibliography, general alphabetical index, 15 genealogies.


The Jews of New Spain, by Seymour B. Liebman

Professor Liebman endeavors to discover why, beginning in 1521, Jews migrated from Old Spain to New Spain. He then proceeds to document the persistence of Jewish life in the face of a new Spanish Inquisition and formalized suppression including forced conversion and exclusion from citizenship. The author concludes it was the religious, cultural and personal vitality of Jews that caused their cherished and proud identity to persist, even though most of the earliest Jewish migrants eventually did assimilate into Mexican society.


From the publication, "Los Sefardíes" (The Sephardim),by Jose M. Estrugo. Published by Editorial Lex La Habana, 1958.(Surnames common among the Sephardim)

When the Romans conquered the Jewish nation in 70 CE, much of the Jewish population was sent into exile throughout the Roman Empire. Many were sent to the Iberian peninsula. The area became known by the Hebrew word "Sepharad". The JEWS in SPAIN and PORTUGAL became known as "Sephardim" or and those things associated with the SEPHARDIM including names, customs, genealogy and religious rituals, became known as SEPHARDIC.


The Sephardim of England, by Albert M. Hyamson

A history of the Spanish & Portugese Jewish Community, 1492-1951.


A Life of Menasseh Ben Israel,by Cecil Roth.

This book contains names from the Sephardic community of greater Amsterdam. Amsterdam was a major haven and transfer point for Sephardim and Crypto-Jews leaving Iberia.


Crisis and Creativity in the Sephardic World: 1391-1648,edited by Gampel.

This book explores antecedents,causes, mechanics and aftermath of the 1492 expulsion from Spain and lists Sephardic movers and shakers during the period.


Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews, by David Gitlitz

Despite the increased attention given to Hispano-Jewish topics, and the "conversos" or Crypto-Jews in particular, this is the first thorough compilation of their customs and practices. The author has culled from Inquisition documents and other sources to paint a portrait of the richness and diversity of Crypto-Jewish practices in Spain, Portugal, and the New World. The history of Spanish Jews, or Sephardim, stretches back to biblical times. The Jews of Spain and Portugal made formative contributions to all Hispanic cultures, the impact of which is first being measured and recognized today. The Sephardim experienced a Golden Age in Iberia between 900-1100, during which they acted as the intermediaries between the rival political and cultural worlds of Islam and Christianity. This Golden Age ended with the Reconquest of Spain by Catholic overlords, though for another 300 years the Jews continued to contribute to Iberian life. In 1391 and again in 1492, intense and violent social pressures were put upon the Jews to join the larger Christian community. Many Jews converted, often unwillingly. In 1492 the remaining Jews were exiled from Spain. The converted Jews (Conversos) became an underclass in Spanish society. Many of them clung tenaciously to Jewish practices in the face of torture and death at the hands of the Inquisition. Having lost contact with other Jews, these people developed a religion which was an admixture of Catholic and Jewish rituals. David Gitlitz examines these practices in detail and attempts to answer the question of whether the Conversos were in fact Jewish. Gitlitz's research is exhaustive. He has combed through thousands of Inquistion records, showing that a sense of "Jewishness" if not Jewish practice remained a core value of many Spaniards' lives well into the 1700s. Gitlitz is convincing in showing that the Inquisition unwittingly aided crypto-Jews in perpetuating themselves by publishing Edicts of Faith. Essentially checklists for informers, they described the behavior of "Judaizers" (sometimes the practices listed were absurd or simply erroneous). These, ironically, were used by Judaizers as guides to religious behavior. It is revealing that as the Inquisition faded, crypto-Judaism waned, though never totally vanished. Gitlitz's knowledge and research on the subject is encyclopedic. The book is written in a "textbook" style which makes it somewhat technical and dry, though it is enlivened by excerpts from Inquisition records, which Gitlitz has apparently chosen for their interest, irony, unintended comedy, or spiritedness. It is difficult to imagine that human beings would face the tortures of the rack for not eating pork. That these same tortured people could summon the will to laugh at their executioners is something wondrous. The book includes the names of the Sephardim (and sometimes their residences too).


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos(Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of Argentinian Jewish families. List of Portuguese Jews expelled from Buenos Aires, 1603.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese"(Jews) of Santiago del Estero.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese"(Jews) of Cordoba.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban.Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese"(Jews) of Talavera (1607)

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese" (Jews) of La Rioja.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese" (Jews)of Jujuy.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Sangre Judia (Jewish Blood) by Pere Bonnin. Flor de Viento, Barcelona, 2006. A list of 3,500 names used by Jews, or assigned to Jews by the Holy Office (la Santo Oficio) of Spain. The list is a result of a census of Jewish communities of Spain by the Catholic Church and as found in Inquisition records.

Pere Bonnin, a philosopher, journalist and writer from Sa Pobla (Mallorca), a descendant of converted Jews, settles with this work a debt "owed to his ancestors", in his own words. The book, written in a personal and accessible style and based on numerous sources, includes a review of basic Jewish concepts, Jewish history in Spain, and Christian Anti-Semitism. There is also a section that focuses on the reconciliation between the Church and Monarchy and the Jews, which took place in the 20th Century. In this study, Bonnin deals in depth with the issue of surnames of Jewish origin. In the prologue, the author explains the rules he followed in the phonetic transcription of surnames of Hebrew origin that are mentioned in the book. The researcher cites the Jewish origin, sometimes recognized and other times controversial, of historically prominent figures (like Cristobal Colon, Hernan Cortes, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and many others) and links between surnames of Jewish origin with some concepts in Judaism.. The book also includes an appendix with more than three thousands surnames "suspected" of being Jewish, because they appear in censuses of the Jewish communities and on the Inquisitorial lists of suspected practitioners of Judaism, as well as in other sources. In the chapter "Una historia de desencuentro", the author elaborates on surnames of Jewish origin of the royalty, nobility, artistocracy, clergy, and also of writers, educators and university teachers during the Inquisition. Special attention is given to the "Chuetas" of Mallorca, the birthplace of the author.


The Circumcision Register of Isaac and Abraham De Paiba (1715-1775) from the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of Bevis Marks(London. England).

The circumcision register of Isaac and Abraham de Paiba (1715-1775): from the manuscript record preserved in the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London named "Sahar Asamaim" transcribed, translated and edited by the late R.D. Barnett, with the assistance of Alan Rose, I.D. Duque and others; There is also a supplement with a record of circumcisions 1679-1699, marriages 1679-1689 and some female births 1679-1699, compiled by Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira. The register includes surnames of those circumsized as well as the names of their Godfathers & Godmothers.


Conversos on Trial, by Haim Bienart. The Hebrew University Magnes Press Ltd. 1981.

The third volume in the Hispania Judaica Series, this well written story of the converso community of Ciudad Real in Spain, based on the Inquisition trials of the mid 15th century.  The book was written by Haim Beinart (1917-2010), Professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an expert on this subject, and contains a list of names, sometimes also providing the names of relatives, house locations, and professions. Based on the Inquisition's records, it is a portrait of the Conversos' deep yearning for their Jewish past and the ultimate sacrifice they were prepared to offer for their continued adherence to their ancestral faith.

 


Apellidos de Judios Sefardies (Surnames of the Sephardic Jews) from the site Comunidad Judia Del Principado de Asturias

The Principality of Asturias (Spanish: Principado de Asturias - Asturian: Principáu d'Asturies) is an autonomous community within the kingdom of Spain, former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages. It is situated on the Spanish North coast facing the Cantabrian Sea (Mar Cantábrico, the Spanish name for the Bay of Biscay). The most important cities are the provincial capital, Oviedo, the seaport and largest city Gijón, and the industrial town of Avilés. No one knows the exact date at which Jews arrived in Asturias. Based solely on the documentation found so far in Asturias, there are clear references to the mid-eleventh century Council of Coyanza held in the Diocese of Oviedo in 1050 which states in Chapter VI: "... no Christian shall live in the same house with Jews or eat with them; if anyone infringes our constitution, they shall do penance for seven days, and if not willing to do it, being a noble person, they shall be deprived of communion for a full year, and if an inferior person they will receive a hundred lashes." But it is in the twelfth century when the rise and importance of the Jewish people is more noticeable in this region. Jewish witness signatures begin to appear more often on donation pledge cards from 1133. Asturias names are not very common among the Jewish population in other parts of the peninsula around the same time, perhaps causing confusion.


ETSI, Volume 4, No.12 dated March 2001, "Aliases in Amsterdam", by Viberke Sealtiel-Olsen, a list of alias names used by Sephardim in Amsterdam. True Sephardic Name=Alias Name

When the Conversos fled Portugal to settle in Amsterdam they returned openly to Judaism. Because they often still had relatives in Portugal, they tried to protect them by using aliases in their transactions. However, it wasn’t only the Portuguese who wound up in Amsterdam. Even a century after 1492, conversos were finding their way from Spain to Amsterdam. Listing a person as a Portuguese merchant generally meant he was Jewish. Their family contacts worldwide, along with their language skills, were great commercial assets in their farflung business ventures. And in their contacts with family back home, they had to be discreet as to not bring suspicion on relatives left behind This work is a wonderful research tool for Sephardic research in Amsterdam.


ETSI, Volume 4, No.12 dated March 2001, "Aliases in Amsterdam", by Viberke Sealtiel-Olsen, a list of alias names used by Sephardim in Amsterdam. Alias Name=True Sephardic Name

When the Conversos fled Portugal to settle in Amsterdam they returned openly to Judaism. Because they often still had relatives in Portugal, they tried to protect them by using aliases in their transactions. However, it wasn’t only the Portuguese who wound up in Amsterdam. Even a century after 1492, conversos were finding their way from Spain to Amsterdam. Listing a person as a Portuguese merchant generally meant he was Jewish. Their family contacts worldwide, along with their language skills, were great commercial assets in their farflung business ventures. And in their contacts with family back home, they had to be discreet as to not bring suspicion on relatives left behind This work is a wonderful research tool for Sephardic research in Amsterdam.


Ruth Reyes, "Sephardic Family Names from Puerto Rico", The Casa Shalom Journal, Volume 10, Published by The Institute for Marrano-Anusim Studies, Gan Yavneh, Israel 2008

This list is compiled from a catalogue the author found on a visit to Puerto Rico in the Museum of San Juan.


Associazione Donne Ebree d'Italia (Wizo - Woman's International Zionist Organization of Italy); Milan, 1997.

Adei-Wizo is a voluntary, non-profit organization , active in Italy for over 70 years where it now has 20 branches with about 3.000 members. It is one of 52 such federations all over the world dedicated to the status of women and the welfare of Israeli society. It encourages Jewish education both in Israel and in the Diaspora.


Nota dei Mezzani ebrei di Livorno approvati nel 1765 (The Jews of Livorno 1765), in Archivio Storico, Italy, 1989

List of Jews in Livorno in 1765, published in "Italian Historical Archives", a magazine founded in 1842 and published under the auspices of the Deputation of National History in Tuscany.


Stephen Birmingham. The Grandees. America's Sephardic Elite; New York, 1971

This is a historical romance about the first Jews who settled in the USA. The group was comprised of Jews that were born in Portugal, who came through the Netherlands, the Caribbean and England before settling in the USA. The author focuses on the fact that they married between themselves, thereby adhering to their Jewish faith.


Ugo Caffaz. Discrimination & Persecution of the Jews in Fascist Italy, Florence, 1988.

Written by a Jewish sociologist in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of Mussolini's anti-semitic measures. These began with a manifesto on the race prepared by Italian "scientists" on 14 July 1938 and continued with successive, ever more draconian, edicts throughout the year. This work collects much of this legislation, which expelled foreign Jews from Italian soil and deprived Italian Jews of their civil rights, stripped them of party membership, expelled them from the armed forces, removed them from their positions in government service (and, thus, from educational institutions), barred students from the universities and the public schools, banned marriages between Christians and Jews, forbade Christians from domestic employment in Jewish homes and Jews from the ownership and management of large corporations, among other punitive measures. One of the most valuable features of this book is its listing of every Jew expelled from the education system, specifying university affiliation and discipline.


Paul Armony. "Apellidos sefardies mas frecuentes obtenidos de los cementerios Avellaneda - Lomas de Zamora - Ciudadela (Acis y Asia) - Tablada Sefaradi y Bancalari" (Common sephardic names as taken from the Avellaneda Cemetery). SEFARAires Nº9 / 2003 página 7.

Paul Armony, President of the Jewish Genealogy Association in Argentina, collected and organized 19,060 records from six Jewish Sephardic cemeteries in Argentina. Of the 3682 surnames of deceased found there, 58% were found to have the same 334 surnames.


Babani and Weinfeld. Portugal Jewish Encyclopedia, Castellana, Mexico, 1948.

A Jewish Encyclopedia in 10 volumes: the Jewish people in the past and present - their history, their religion, their customs, their literature, their art, their leaders, and more.


Nissim Elnecave. Los Hijos de Ibero-Franconia. Breviario del Mundo Sefaradí desde los Orígenes hasta nuestros días(The Children of Iberia-Spain: World Sephardic Breviary from the beginning to today), Editorial "La Luz", Buenos Aires, 1981.

In this work on Sephardic history, the author argues his main thesis: Sephardic is a cultural concept, and therefore should not be restricted to descendants of Portuguese and Spanish Jews, but should also extend to France, Italy and the Arab world.


List of surnames of Jews residing in Toledo prior to expulsion edict.

From Nahman Family Research.


Gina Formiggini. Stella d'Italia, Stella di David. Gli Ebrei dal Risorgimento alla Resistenza (Italy's Star, Star of David: The Jews from the Risorgimento to the Resistance), published by Murcia, Milan, 1970 (reprinted 1998).

The documented evidence of the presence of the Jewish Community in the history of Italy.


Genaro Garcia. La lnquisicion de Mexico. Autos de Fe. Tumultos y Rebeliones en Mexico (The Inquisition in Mexico: Autos de Fe,Riots & Rebellions), Mexico, 1982.

The Mexican Inquisition was an extension of the Spanish Inquisition into the New World. Almost all of events associated with the official establishment of the Holy Office of the Inquisition occurred in Mexico City, where the Holy Office had its own headquarters. The official period of the Inquisition lasted from 1571 to 1820. A group that suffered during this time were the so-called “crypto-Jews” of Portuguese descent. Many converted Portuguese Jews came to New Spain looking for commercial opportunities. In 1642, 150 of these individuals were arrested within three or four days, and the Inquisition began a series of trials. These people were accused of being ‘judaisers,’ meaning they still held Judaic beliefs. Many of these were merchants involved in New Spain’s principal activities. On 11 April 1649, the viceregal state staged the largest ever auto da fe in New Spain, in which twelve of the accused were burned after being strangulated and one person was burned alive. Most of the remainder were ‘reconciled’ and deported to Spain


Albert Montefiore Hyamson. The Sefaradim of England, Methuen, 1951.

This is a history of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community in the years 1492-1951 by Albert Montefiore Hyamson (1875-1954),a British zionist and historian who served as chief immigration officer in the British Mandate of Palestine from 1921 to 1934. He argued that Christians should assist the Jews in creating and protecting the new state to atone for their persecution of the Jews in the past.


Julio Caro Baroja. Los judios en la Espana Moderna y Contemporanea (The Jews in Modern and Contemporary Spain), I,II,III, Madrid, 1986

In these 3 volumes, the author relates the history of the descendants of Jews in Spain, mainly with respect to the persecution of New-Christians, and their contribution of this group to the country.


Jean Pierre Filippini. Il Porto di Livorno e La Toscana (1676-1814)(The Port of Livorno and Tuscany 1676-1814), Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli, 1998.

Contains the census of Jews in Livorno in 1809.


List of Members and Rabbis of the Congregation "Kahal Kadosh Neveh Shalom", founded in 1704, Website, Jamaica.

Neveh Shalom - Dwelling Place of Peace - was one of the first synagogues built in Spanish Town, Jamaica during the 17th century. The Neveh Shalom Institute is chartered to promote projects to preserve the history, culture, and artifacts of the Jewish existence in, and contribution to Jamaica, from the 17th century.


Livio Livi. Gli Ebrei Alia Luce della Statistica (The Jews in the light of statistics) , Vallecchi Editore Florence, 1920.

A study on the ethnic individuality and historical demography of the Italian Jewish population.


Gary Mokotoff. Avotaynu.

Gary Mokotoff is a noted author, lecturer and leader of Jewish genealogy. He has been recognized by three major genealogical groups for his achievements. Avotaynu, The International Review of Jewish Genealogy, was founded in 1985 as a 20-page semiannual; it has grown to 68-page quarterly that is one of the most respected magazines in genealogy. The Avotaynu Consolidated Jewish Surname Index (CJSI) enables search by surname on 42 different databases.


A. Rodriguez-Monino. Les Judaisants a Badajoz de 1493 a 1599 (Secret Jews in Badajoz from 1493 until 1599), Paris, 1956.

This article includes a list of 231 condemned in chronological order and a list ordered by family names.


Emma Moya. New Mexico's Sephardim: Uncovering Jewish Roots in La Herencia del Norte: Our Past, Our Present, Our Future, Vol. XII, Winter 1996. (www.herencia.com).

According to author, Emma Moya, in an article written for La Herencia Del Norte, Volume XXII, Winter, 1996, there is evidence that many of the families who settled in New Spain were forced to convert to Catholicism during the Spanish and Mexican Inquisition. The article goes on to list many relevant Sephardic names.


Franco Pisa, "Parnassim: le grandi Famiglie Ebraiche Italiane dal Secolo 11 al 19" (Parnassim : The great Italian Jewish families from 11th to 19th centuries), edited by Ariel Toaff in Annuario di Studi Ebraici, Carucci Editore, Rome, 1984

This is a recommended work about the genealogy of the great Italian families.


Stefano Jesurum, "Essere Ebrei in ltalia nella testimonianza di ventuno protagonisti", Longanesi, Milan,1987 (Being a Jew in Italy: From the Testimonies of 21 Persons)

Stefano Jesurum was born in Milan in 1951. His parents were Venetian and descended from a Portuguese Sephardic family. During the persecution, most of the family took refuge in Switzerland. He is associated with Left Wing Politics in Italy.


Malcolm H. Stern. First American Jewish Families. 600 Genealogies. 1654-1988, Ottenheimer Editors, Inc., 1991.

When it first appeared in 1960, Malcolm Stern's Americans of Jewish Descent marked a milestone in the study of American Jewish genealogy. Researchers now have access to the complete text of Rabbi Stern's monumental volume that was published in 1991 as the updated and revised 3rd edition entitled: First American Jewish Families: 600 Genealogies, 1654-1988.


Antonio Borges Coelho, Inquisicao de Evora. Dos primordios a 1668 (Inquisition of Evora: From the beginning to 1668) - vol. 1, Lisbon, 1987

The Portuguese Inquisition was born legally in Evora in the year 1536, legitimized by the Pope, sponsored by King John III, Cardinal Alfonso and future cardinal and Inquisitor General D. Henry.


Antonio Alberto Banha de Andrade. Judeus em Montemor-o-Novo,(Jews in Montemor-o-Novo) Portugal, Academia Portuguesa de História, 1977.

Jewish settlement in the area began prior to Portugal's emergence as a nation. A tradition among the Sephardi Jews ascribes their arrival in Iberia to Roman times, in the wake of the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. and subsequent dispersion toward Europe. The existence of a significant Jewish settlement on the peninsula by 300 C.E. is apparent from the edicts of Elvira which proscribe "taking food with the Jews" and single out the Jewish group in a number of dicta. James Finn endeavored to make a case for dating the initial Jewish involvement in the area as early as 900 B.C.E., based on reports of two ancient Hebrew inscriptions, one mentioning Amaziah, King of Judah, and a second marking the grave of King Solomon's treasurer, Adoniram. When Portugal emerged as a distinct national entity under Affonso (Henriques) I ( 1139-85), a number of Jewish centers existed, including a commu nity in Montemor-o-Novo. The author of this work, Antonio Alberto Banha de Andrade, was born in 1915 in Montemor-o-Novo and was a renowned Portuguese historian and teacher who did important work in the fields of religious history, education and culture.


Antonio Pimenta de Castro. The Marranos of Vilarinho dos Galegos, Portugal, Apr/Jun 1996.

Historian Antonio Pimenta de Castro explores the subject of the Crypto-Jews in the riverside village of Vilarinho dos Gallegos (Portugal), which is well known for once having a strong Jewish presence. The marks of Judaism are still very much preserved in the village, even though the Jewish religion was practiced secretly throughout the years.


Anita Novinsky. Inquisicao: Prisioneiros do Brasil. Seculos XVI-XIX, (Inquisition : Prisoners in Brazil 16th-19th Centuries) Rio de Janeiro, 2002.

The author, Anita Novinsky, holds degrees in philosophy and history from the Univeristy of Sao Paulo and is also affiliated with several foreign institutions and institutions in Europe and the U.S. She published several books that have greatly contributed to a renewed vision of the Inquisition in Brazil and Portugal. According to a survey completed in 1994 by Professor Francisco Bethencourt (New University of Lisbon), the total number of accused put on trial by the Inquisition amounted to 44,817. Of these, 9,726 were charged by the Inquisition of Lisbon (the other courts were located in Evora, Coimbra and Goa). About half of these prisoners, approximately five thousand, were in Brazil. In this work, which was a meticulous and patient work of years, the author has identified 1,076 prisoners from Brazil, including a wide range of details (place of birth, address, ethnic backgrounds, occupations, crimes and sentences), giving this study high importance.


Francisco Manuel Alves (Abade de Baçal). Memorias Arquelogico-Historicas do Distrito de Bragança (Memoirs of the Archaeological Historical District of Bragança in Portugal),Bragança, 1925.

Francisco Manuel Alves, better known as Abbot of Baçal (1865-1947 ) was a Portuguese archaeologist , historian and genealogist. His principal work is the archaeological-historical memories of the district of Bragança (1909-1947), in eleven volumes. The fifth volume of his masterpiece is dedicated to the Jews.


Pierre Pluchon. "Bordeaux, 1730: List of Families and Taxes paid by them" in Negres et Juifs au XVIII Siecle (Blacks & Jews in the 18th Century), Paris, 1984.

Pierre Pluchon held a diplomatic post in Haiti, which he used for his research. In this work, the Portuguese Jews of Bordeaux are described by their distinct social and political circles.


Synagogue Beth Yaacov Sao Paulo, list of members, Sao Paulo, 1996.

There are about 96,500 Jews in Brazil today. The current Jewish community is mostly composed of Ashkenazi Jews of Polish and German descent and also Sephardic Jews of Spanish, Portuguese, and North African descent. Brazilian Jews play an active role in politics, sports, academia, trade and industry, and are overall well integrated in all spheres of Brazilian life. The majority of Brazilian Jews live in the State of São Paulo although there are sizeable communities elsewhere. Jews lead an open religious life in Brazil and there are schools, associations and synagogues where Brazilian Jews can practice and pass on Jewish culture and traditions. The Beit Yaakov synagogue, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is an imposing temple, built in the 90s, a gift of the brothers Joseph and Moise Safra to the Jewish community of Sao Paulo. Also known as the Safra Synagogue, it is the largest synagogue in the city of São Paulo.


Ugo Caffaz. Discrimination & Persecution of the Jews in Fascist Italy, Florence, 1988.

Written by a Jewish sociologist in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of Mussolini's anti-semitic measures. These began with a manifesto on the race prepared by Italian "scientists" on 14 July 1938 and continued with successive, ever more draconian, edicts throughout the year. This work collects much of this legislation, which expelled foreign Jews from Italian soil and deprived Italian Jews of their civil rights, stripped them of party membership, expelled them from the armed forces, removed them from their positions in government service (and, thus, from educational institutions), barred students from the universities and the public schools, banned marriages between Christians and Jews, forbade Christians from domestic employment in Jewish homes and Jews from the ownership and management of large corporations, among other punitive measures. One of the most valuable features of this book is its listing of every Jew expelled from the education system, specifying university affiliation and discipline.


Giuseppe Celata. Gli Ebrei a Pitigliano (The Jews in Pitigliano), Italy, 1995.

The history of the Jewish community of Pitigliano is extraordinary. Since the middle of the 16th century more and more Jews came to Pitigliano, partly due to the fact that they were forced out of the Papal States (the border to Latio, a former papal territory, is only 5 km away) As time passed a flourishing Jewish community life developed here.


Rio de Janeiro's Chevra Kadisha (Jewish Burial Society) lists, Rio de Janeiro, august 1998.


Antonio Cravo. Judeus Portugueses no Espaço Frances (Portuguese Jews in France, in 18th century), in Brigantia, vol XIIl, pp. 211-261, Portugal, jan/jun 1993.

Story of the Portuguese New Christians from Bordeaux at the end of the 18th century. The story focuses on the Pereira family who originated in Braganca and then moved to France. Some of the notable descendants of this family were Jacob Rodrigues Pereira, the inventor of the language for deaf-mutes, the Pereira bankers, and others.


Alberto Dines. Vinculos do Fogo-I,(Fire Links - Antônio José da Silva, Jewish and other history of the Inquisition in Portugal and Brazil, Volume I),Sao Paulo, 1992

A biographical novel of the most famous victim of the Brazilian Inquisition, Jose Antonio da Silva, known as the "Jew" (1705 -1739), lawyer and playwright, who was garroted and then burned for "crimes of Judaism." In this book, the author relates the family's genealogy through the biography of all known relations. The objective of this work is to highlight the condition of New Christians in the 18th century. Between the generations of Jose Antonio da Silva and his great-grandfather, a total of 143 family members had problems with the Santo Oficio (the Tribunal of the Inquisition).


Egon and Frieda Wolff. Quantos Judeus Estiveram no Brasil Holandes e Outros Ensaios,(How many Jews were in Dutch Brazil and Other Essays), Rio de Janeiro, 1991.

Intriguing work listing Dutch Jews from Brazil, by the ground-breaking and influential scholars of Brazilian Jewry.


Vibeke Sealtiel Olsen. List of poor Jews who were removed from Amsterdam and received financial assistance to go live in other countries (1757- 1813), Website, Amsterdam, 1999.

This list organized by Olsen relates the names of Jews who received assistance from the Dutch community to emigrate to other countries. The list covers the period 1759-1813 with all the names of the poor Sephardic Jews who were granted Tzedaka(charity) - an amount in Dutch florins- against the promise to leave Amsterdam and not to return within the next 15 years. Despite the image of wealth in this community, this was not the reality. The author Crespo Fabiao, describes the local social pyramid: "On one occasion, during a wedding celebration in the community, the combined wealth of 40 of the guests exceeded 40 million guilders ... By the late eighteenth century, more than half of 2,800 members of the Sephardic-Jewish from the main Synagogue of Amsterdam received financial assistance, and around 17,500 of the Ashkenazim Jews (from a total of 20,304) of that city, were classified as homeless."


Luis de Bivar Guerra(Publisher). Um Caderno de Cristãos Novos de Barcelos (a Notebook of New-Christians in Barcelos), Lisbon, 1959.

José Luis León de Bivar Sousa Pimentel Guerra (1904-1979), was a Portuguese genealogist who researched the role of new Christians in Portuguese society and thus in Brazil. This "A Notebook of New Christians in Barcelos" by an anonymous author is a list of converted Jews in that city in 1497, and some of their descendants. It reports the prominent families in Barcelos (Portugal) with Jewish ancestry.


Cap. Artur Carlos de Barros Basto (editor). HaLapid (official organ of the Obra do Resgate), Porto, dec. 20-50.

Magazine edited by the "Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue" congregation, in the city of Porto. This was founded by Crypto-Jews who returned to the Jewish religion during a movement called "the Work of Rescue" which was undertaken by Captain Barros Basto in the 1930's among various communities of Jewish descent.


Jean Pierre Filippini. Il Porto di Livorno e La Toscana (1676-1814)(The Port of Livorno and Tuscany 1676-1814), Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli, 1998.

Contains the census of Jews in Livorno in 1809.


Yosef Kaplan (editor). Jews and Conversos, Studies in Society and the Inquisition, in The Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 1985

This collection of articles sheds lights on the social, economic and cultural life of Spanish and Portuguese Jewry in the Middle Ages, while stressing at the same time the unique role of the conversos in the history of the Iberian Peninsula and its Jewish community.


Ketuboth van de Portugees-Israelietische Gemeente te Amsterdam van 1650-1911 (Index of Ketuboth of the Portuguese Jewish Congregation in Amsterdam from 1650 and 1911). D. Verdooner and H.J.W.Snel.

The Portuguese Jewish Community in Amsterdam was formed by Marranos who returned to Judaism after they had been converted to Catholicism in 1492 (Spain) and 1497 (Portugal). Families who lived in Toledo before 1492 reappear in Amsterdam in the 17th century, showing that for five generations (120 years) they succeeded in maintaining some form of Judaism behind the Catholic image. In the Amsterdam Municipality between 1598 and 1811 about 15,000 marriage certificates of Jews were registered. This Index mainly pertains to the richer and influential Sephardic community of Amsterdam. The great merchants, ship owners, rabbis and philosophers (Spinoza, Menasse ben Israel, Isaac Aboab da Fonseca) all appear on it. There are also families from other Sephardic communities from Livorno and Tunis. Many times weddings represented the creation and maintenance of commercial alliances.


Luiz de Bivar Guerra. Inventory of the proceedings of the Inquisition of Coimbra(1541-1820), Lisbon, 1972.

Coimbra was the seat of an inquisitional tribunal, one of the four operating in Portuguese territory, besides Lisbon, Évora, and Goa. The tribunal in Coimbra, which tried many distinguished Conversos, disposed of more than 11,000 cases between 1541 and 1820. The trials sometimes lasted for months or even years, during which the accused were held in prison. The accused came in great numbers from Bragança, Braga, Porto, Viseu, Aveiro, Guarda, and Coimbra. From the sermons preached at the auto-da-fé we learn that mothers and grandmothers were held responsible for maintaining Jewish practices and beliefs among the Conversos. Thus, during the first century of its existence, more women than men were tried by the Inquisition of Coimbra. The hardest hit were those who lived in distant and mountainous areas. As late as June 17, 1718, over 60 secret Jews appeared at an auto-da-fé there, some for a fifth or sixth time. Two were burned at the stake and the rest penanced.


Jose Antonio Gonsalves de Mello. Gente da Nação (Um Dicionario dos Judeus Residentes no Nordeste, 1630-1654) (People of The Jewish Nation in Dutch Brazil : A Dictionary of Residents in the Northeast 1630-1654), Journal of the Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Institute of Pernambuco, Recife, 1989.

In the sixteenth century, many Jews made their way from the Iberian Peninsula to Brazil to escape the Inquisition. With the arrival of the Dutch in Pernambuco, and in particular the presence of Count Maurice of Nassau ,the Jewish immigrants were able to enjoy great freedom to practice their religion and traditions. Settling in the state, they built schools, synagogues, and cemeteries. No one knows the exact size of the Jewish population that came to the Northeast of the country, but researchers estimate that during the Dutch rule (1630-1654), about three hundred Jews lived in Recife.


Neusa Fernandes. A Inquisicao em Minas Gerais no sec. XVIII (Inquisition in Minas Gerais in the 18th Century), Rio de Janeiro, 2000.


Manuel Ramos de Oliveira. Os Cristaos-novos nos Distritos da Guarda e Castelo Branco,(New Christians in the districts of Guarda and Castelo Branca), em Beira Alta, vol. X, fasc. I-II, Portugal, 1951.


Pedro de Azevedo, "Cristaos-novos de Lisboa que estavam ausentes da cidade em 1614" (Crypto-Jews from Lisbon who were absent from the city in 1614) Lisbon, 1915.

The author worked on the trial records deposited in the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon and published his findings.


Maria Jose Pimenta Ferro Tavares. Os judeus em Portugal no seculo XIV (The Jews in Portugal in the 14th century), Lisboa, 1979.

This study includes a name and place index.


Max Polonovski. Les Juifs Proteges de la France dans les echelles du Levant et de Barbaria. (XVIIIe et XIX siecles),(Jews under French protectorate in Levant and Barbaria in 18th-19th centuries), in Revue du Cercle de Genealogie Juive No 53, tome 14, Paris, 1998.


Antonio de Portugal de Faria. A Inquisicao Portuguesa no seculo XVII (The Portuguese Inquisition in the 17th Century), in O Instituto n° XVII, pp. 751-760, Coimbra, 1899.

The Portuguese Inquisition formally started in Portugal in 1536 at the request of the King of Portugal, João III although in many places in Portugal it actually started in 1497 when the authorities expelled many Jews and forcefully converted many others to Catholicism. The Portuguese Inquisition held its first "auto da fé" in Portugal in 1540. It concentrated its efforts on rooting out converts from other faiths (overwhelmingly Judaism) who did not adhere to the strictures of Catholic orthodoxy; the Portuguese inquisitors mostly targeted the Jewish "New Christians," or "Marranos". The 17th Century brought with it a new wave of anti-semitism in Portugal. Between 1612 and 1630 the Inquisition in Lisbon, Coimbra and Evora held no less than 47 large autos-da-fe.


J. Mendes dos Remedios, "Os Judeus Portugueses em Amsterdam" (The Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam), 1911, Coimbra

A compilation of Judeo-Portuguese texts published in Amsterdam can be found in this book and can now be downloaded. http://www.archive.org/details/osjudeusportugue00mend


Adriano Vasco Rodrigues. Judeus e Inquisição na Guarda,(Jews and The Inquisition in Guard, Portugal),published in the journal "Altitude", Porto, 1980.

Adriano Vasco Rodrigues is himself a historian and ethnographer from the Guard region in Portugal.


Anita Novinsky. Inquisicao. Rol dos Culpados. Fontes para a Historia do Brasil (Sources for the History of Brazil - 18th Century),published in "Expression and Culture", Rio de Janeiro, 1992.

Contains a list of Brazilian and Portuguese New-Christians in Brazil (1819 names - 721 women and 1098 men) who were prosecuted or persecuted by the courts of the Inquisition, during the eighteenth century, as located by the author in deposits from the National Archives of Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. This book is a most important source of New-Christians names (Marrano names), mainly of those who remained in Portugal or throughout the Portuguese empire.


W.S. Samuel. In Jewish Historical Society of England. Transactions. Sessions 1968-1969, vol. XXII & Miscellanies Part. VII, University College, London, 1970.

This collection includes a list of Jewish Persons endenizened and naturalised in England in the period 1609-1799.


Mario Cohen (editor).1992: El Descubrimiento de la Cultura Sefaradi, in Sefardica (Discovery of Sephardic Culture) n. 9, Buenos Aires, August 1992.

Mario Cohen is Director of the Sephardic Culture Research and Dissemination Center in Buenos Aires.


Daniel M. Swetschinski. Reluctant Cosmopolitans: The Portuguese Jews of Seventeenth Century Amsterdam, London, 2000.

Several thousand "New Christians" (the descendants of Portuguese Jews who had been forcibly converted some two centuries before) emigrated to Amsterdam in the 17th century. Subsequently the community decided to remanifest themselves as Jews. The author focuses on the social dimension of Jewish economic and religious life, formal and informal, as well as their interactions with the Dutch authorities and populace (an exceptionally cordial relationship for that time). Also explored is the contradictions that arose from Jews that often retained, sometimes without realizing it, Catholic ideas and views.


Renzo Toaff. La Nazione Ebrea a Livorno e a Pisa (1591-1700),(The Jewish Nation in Livorno and Pisa 1591-1700), Leo S. Olschki Editor, Florence, 1990.

The demographic history of Italian Jewry. Includes bibliographical references, with indexes and appendixes in Italian and Portuguese.


Dr. Albert de Vidas (editor). Erensia Sefardi, Fairfield, CT, USA.

This newsletter which is now online reports on a variety of topics related to the Sephardic world.


Isabel Monteiro. Os judeus na regiao de Viseu (The Jews in the region of Viseu), Viseu, 1997.

Rufina Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum has extracted names of Jewish women, Jewish family names and names of New Christians in the 16th century in Viseu from this work by Isabel Monteiro.


Yeshivah Rosh Pinah do Porto, in "Marranos in Portugal by the Portuguese Marrano Committee, 1926 to 1938", London, 1938.

Between 1925 and 1938 an attempt was made to assist the Anusim or secret Jews of Portugal to return to Judaism after Samuel Schwarz, the Polish Jewish mining engineer who had discovered the secret Jewish community in Belmonte, published a book on this subject.In 1929 a boys' boarding school named Rosh Pinah was founded in Oporto to teach Judaism to youngsters from crypto-Jewish families.


Distinguished Jewish bearers of the Lopez name and its variants include : Rodrigo Lopes (c. 1525 – June 7, 1594)physician to Queen Elizabeth Sabatino Lopez (1867-1951), Italian Playwright Aaron Lopez (1731–1782), was born Duarte Lopez in Portugal. He was a Jewish merchant and philanthropist. He became the wealthiest person in Newport, Rhode Island, in British America. Antoinette Louppe (Lopes), mother of Michel de Montaigne (1535-1592), French writer.

Around the 12th century, surnames started to become common in Iberia. In Spain, where Arab-Jewish influence was significant, these new names retained their old original structure, so that many of the Jewish surnames were of Hebrew derivation. Others were directly related to geographical locations and were acquired due to the forced wanderings caused by exile and persecution. Other family names were a result of conversion, when the family accepted the name of their Christian sponsor. In many cases, the Portuguese Jews bear surnames of pure Iberian/Christian origin. Many names have been changed in the course of migration from country to country. In yet other cases "aliases", or totally new names, were adopted due to fear of persecution by the Inquisition.

Here are some locations where registries of Sephardic or Christianized Jewish families with this surname have been traced: Badajoz, Spain,Boston, MA, USA,Buenos Aires, Argentina,Florence, Italy,Fundao, Portugal,Genova, Italy,Gorizia, Italy,Livorno (Leghorn), Italy,London, England,Malaga, Spain,Mexico City, Mexico,Milan, Italy,Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal,New York, USA,Newport,RI, USA,Savanna-La-Mar, Jamaica,Spanishtown, Jamaica,Toledo, Spain,Vila do Conde, Brasil,Portugal, ,Alcais, Portugal,Aleppo, Syria,Amsterdam, Netherlands,Argozelo, Portugal,Azinhoso, Portugal,Bahia, Brasil,Barcelos, Portugal,Bayonne, France,Beja, Portugal,Bemposta, portugal,Bordeaux, France,Braga, Portugal,Braganca, Portugal,Castelo Branco, Portugal,Castelo de Vide, Portugal,Cea, Portugal,Chacim, Portugal,Chaves, Portugal,Dutch Brazil, Brasil,Elvas, Portugal,Escalhao, Portugal,Estremoz, Portugal,Evora, Portugal,Ferrara, Italy,Florence, Italy,Fronteira, Portugal,Fundao, Portugal,Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal,Lisbon, Portugal,Livorno (Leghorn), Italy,London, England,Mariana, Brasil,Matoim, Brasil,Minas Gerais, Brasil,Mogadouro, Portugal,Monforte, Portugal,Monsanto, Portugal,Monsaraz, Portugal,Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal,Ouro Branco, Brasil,Ouro Preto, Brasil,Paris, France,Pavia, Italy,Penamacor, Portugal,Pernambuco, Brasil,Portalegre, Portugal,Portimao, Portugal,Porto, Portugal,Rio de Janeiro, Brasil,Rome, Italy,Sabara, Brasil,Sabugal, Portugal,Sao Paulo, Brasil,Sao Vicente, Brasil,Smyrna, Netherlands,Trancoso, Portugal,Viana, Portugal,Vilarinho dos Galegos, Portugal,Viseu, Portugal,

Some interesting facts about the name this name are : The name Lopez appears in the records of the Inquisition of Toledo.The Lopes family shield has no cross in its coat of arms, but rather two stars, each one containing six points like the Jewish Star of David.The Lopes family appear during the reign of Afonso V in Portugal in the 15th century.The surname Lopes is mentioned 51 times in the Book of Guilties. It appears in the records of the Inquisition of Evora, Coimbra and Lisbon. According to the National Statistics Institute of Spain, Lopez is the fifth most common name in the country.In Portuguese this name is spelled with a "s" and in Spanish with "z".

Some common variations of Lopez are Lopes, López,

The following websites are relevant to the surname Lopez: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Lopez_(physician)
http://bneianussim.wordpress.com/2008/12/23/lopez-dalmeida/
http://www.brasilsefarad.com/joomla/images/stories/Biblioteca/mitosobrenomes.pdf ,http://friendsofmarranos.blogspot.com/search/label/Marranos ,http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/search_results.jsp?searchType=1&pageNum=1&search=Lopes&x=0&y=0&searchOpt=0,http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=542&letter=L&search=Lopez,

There are many indicators that the name López may be of Jewish origin, emanating from the Jewish communities of Spain and Portugal.

When the Romans conquered the Jewish nation in 70 CE, much of the Jewish population was sent into exile throughout the Roman Empire. Many were sent to the Iberian Peninsula. The approximately 750,000 Jews living in Spain in the year 1492 were banished from the country by royal decree of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Jews of Portugal, were banished several years later. Reprieve from the banishment decrees was promised to those Jews who converted to Catholicism. Though some converted by choice, most of these New-Christian converts were called CONVERSOS or MARRANOS (a derogatory term for converts meaning pigs in Spanish), ANUSIM (meaning "coerced ones" in Hebrew) and CRYPTO-JEWS, as they secretly continued to practice the tenets of the Jewish faith.

Our research has found that the family name López is cited with respect to Jews & Crypto-Jews in at least 48 bibliographical, documentary, or electronic references:

From the burial register of Bethahaim Velho Cemetery, Published by the Jewish Historical Society of England and transcribed by R. D. Barnett.

The register gives us dates for the burials in the "Bethahaim Velho" or Old Cemetery. The dates are listed as per the Jewish calendar.


Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy, by Dan Rottenberg

In this work Dan Rottenberg shows how to do a successful search for probing the memories of living relatives, by examining marriage licenses, gravestones, ship passenger lists, naturalization records, birth and death certificates, and other public documents, and by looking for clues in family traditions and customs. Supplementing the "how to" instructions is a guide to some 8,000 Jewish family names, giving the origins of the names, sources of information about each family, and the names of related families whose histories have been recorded. Other features included a country-by-country guide to tracing Jewish ancestors abroad, a list of Jewish family history books, and a guide to researching genealogy.


The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New World, by Seymour B. Liebman. Reports the names of people who appeared before the inquisition in the New Spain

Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.


The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New World, by Seymour B. Liebman.Reports the names of people who appeared before the inquisition in New Granada

Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.


The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New World, by Seymour B. Liebman. Reports the names of people who appeared before the inquisition in El Peru.

Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.


A History of the Marranos, by Cecil Roth.

The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 by the infamous decree of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella was the culmination of a series of anti-Jewish persecutions throughout the 14th and 15th centuries in which thousands of Jews were massacred. Thousands of others converted in order to escape death. After the expulsion many more joined the ranks of these "new Christians" as an alternative to exile. A large number of converts, while outwardly professing Christianity, secretly continued to practice Judaism. These Marranos, as they were popularly known, were then mercilessly persecuted by the dreaded Inquisition which through tortures of forced confessions and auto-da-fes sent thousands to the stake. Many others managed to escape to countries outside the reach of the Inquisition where they created a widespread Marrano diaspora. Thousands of Marranos have survived even into our times. This seminal work by the eminent historian traces the tribulation of these secret Judaizers as well as the fate of those who succeeded in escaping to other lands where many of them rose to prominence in various fields of endeavor.


Precious Stones of the Jews in Curaçao; Curaçaon Jewry 1656-1957, by Isaac Samuel Emmanuel (1957)

Names taken from 225 tombstones of 2536 persons, 1668 - 1859, men, women and some Rabbis. Includes cemetery history and plan, biographies including family histories, chronological list of names, alphabetical list of family names + number of members + eldest tombstone year, large bibliography, general alphabetical index, 15 genealogies.


The Jews of New Spain, by Seymour B. Liebman

Professor Liebman endeavors to discover why, beginning in 1521, Jews migrated from Old Spain to New Spain. He then proceeds to document the persistence of Jewish life in the face of a new Spanish Inquisition and formalized suppression including forced conversion and exclusion from citizenship. The author concludes it was the religious, cultural and personal vitality of Jews that caused their cherished and proud identity to persist, even though most of the earliest Jewish migrants eventually did assimilate into Mexican society.


From the publication, "Los Sefardíes" (The Sephardim),by Jose M. Estrugo. Published by Editorial Lex La Habana, 1958.(Surnames common among the Sephardim)

When the Romans conquered the Jewish nation in 70 CE, much of the Jewish population was sent into exile throughout the Roman Empire. Many were sent to the Iberian peninsula. The area became known by the Hebrew word "Sepharad". The JEWS in SPAIN and PORTUGAL became known as "Sephardim" or and those things associated with the SEPHARDIM including names, customs, genealogy and religious rituals, became known as SEPHARDIC.


The Sephardim of England, by Albert M. Hyamson

A history of the Spanish & Portugese Jewish Community, 1492-1951.


A Life of Menasseh Ben Israel,by Cecil Roth.

This book contains names from the Sephardic community of greater Amsterdam. Amsterdam was a major haven and transfer point for Sephardim and Crypto-Jews leaving Iberia.


Crisis and Creativity in the Sephardic World: 1391-1648,edited by Gampel.

This book explores antecedents,causes, mechanics and aftermath of the 1492 expulsion from Spain and lists Sephardic movers and shakers during the period.


Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews, by David Gitlitz

Despite the increased attention given to Hispano-Jewish topics, and the "conversos" or Crypto-Jews in particular, this is the first thorough compilation of their customs and practices. The author has culled from Inquisition documents and other sources to paint a portrait of the richness and diversity of Crypto-Jewish practices in Spain, Portugal, and the New World. The history of Spanish Jews, or Sephardim, stretches back to biblical times. The Jews of Spain and Portugal made formative contributions to all Hispanic cultures, the impact of which is first being measured and recognized today. The Sephardim experienced a Golden Age in Iberia between 900-1100, during which they acted as the intermediaries between the rival political and cultural worlds of Islam and Christianity. This Golden Age ended with the Reconquest of Spain by Catholic overlords, though for another 300 years the Jews continued to contribute to Iberian life. In 1391 and again in 1492, intense and violent social pressures were put upon the Jews to join the larger Christian community. Many Jews converted, often unwillingly. In 1492 the remaining Jews were exiled from Spain. The converted Jews (Conversos) became an underclass in Spanish society. Many of them clung tenaciously to Jewish practices in the face of torture and death at the hands of the Inquisition. Having lost contact with other Jews, these people developed a religion which was an admixture of Catholic and Jewish rituals. David Gitlitz examines these practices in detail and attempts to answer the question of whether the Conversos were in fact Jewish. Gitlitz's research is exhaustive. He has combed through thousands of Inquistion records, showing that a sense of "Jewishness" if not Jewish practice remained a core value of many Spaniards' lives well into the 1700s. Gitlitz is convincing in showing that the Inquisition unwittingly aided crypto-Jews in perpetuating themselves by publishing Edicts of Faith. Essentially checklists for informers, they described the behavior of "Judaizers" (sometimes the practices listed were absurd or simply erroneous). These, ironically, were used by Judaizers as guides to religious behavior. It is revealing that as the Inquisition faded, crypto-Judaism waned, though never totally vanished. Gitlitz's knowledge and research on the subject is encyclopedic. The book is written in a "textbook" style which makes it somewhat technical and dry, though it is enlivened by excerpts from Inquisition records, which Gitlitz has apparently chosen for their interest, irony, unintended comedy, or spiritedness. It is difficult to imagine that human beings would face the tortures of the rack for not eating pork. That these same tortured people could summon the will to laugh at their executioners is something wondrous. The book includes the names of the Sephardim (and sometimes their residences too).


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos(Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of Argentinian Jewish families. List of Portuguese Jews expelled from Buenos Aires, 1603.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese"(Jews) of Santiago del Estero.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese"(Jews) of Cordoba.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban.Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese"(Jews) of Talavera (1607)

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese" (Jews) of La Rioja.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese" (Jews)of Jujuy.

This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.


Sangre Judia (Jewish Blood) by Pere Bonnin. Flor de Viento, Barcelona, 2006. A list of 3,500 names used by Jews, or assigned to Jews by the Holy Office (la Santo Oficio) of Spain. The list is a result of a census of Jewish communities of Spain by the Catholic Church and as found in Inquisition records.

Pere Bonnin, a philosopher, journalist and writer from Sa Pobla (Mallorca), a descendant of converted Jews, settles with this work a debt "owed to his ancestors", in his own words. The book, written in a personal and accessible style and based on numerous sources, includes a review of basic Jewish concepts, Jewish history in Spain, and Christian Anti-Semitism. There is also a section that focuses on the reconciliation between the Church and Monarchy and the Jews, which took place in the 20th Century. In this study, Bonnin deals in depth with the issue of surnames of Jewish origin. In the prologue, the author explains the rules he followed in the phonetic transcription of surnames of Hebrew origin that are mentioned in the book. The researcher cites the Jewish origin, sometimes recognized and other times controversial, of historically prominent figures (like Cristobal Colon, Hernan Cortes, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and many others) and links between surnames of Jewish origin with some concepts in Judaism.. The book also includes an appendix with more than three thousands surnames "suspected" of being Jewish, because they appear in censuses of the Jewish communities and on the Inquisitorial lists of suspected practitioners of Judaism, as well as in other sources. In the chapter "Una historia de desencuentro", the author elaborates on surnames of Jewish origin of the royalty, nobility, artistocracy, clergy, and also of writers, educators and university teachers during the Inquisition. Special attention is given to the "Chuetas" of Mallorca, the birthplace of the author.


The Circumcision Register of Isaac and Abraham De Paiba (1715-1775) from the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of Bevis Marks(London. England).

The circumcision register of Isaac and Abraham de Paiba (1715-1775): from the manuscript record preserved in the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London named "Sahar Asamaim" transcribed, translated and edited by the late R.D. Barnett, with the assistance of Alan Rose, I.D. Duque and others; There is also a supplement with a record of circumcisions 1679-1699, marriages 1679-1689 and some female births 1679-1699, compiled by Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira. The register includes surnames of those circumsized as well as the names of their Godfathers & Godmothers.


Conversos on Trial, by Haim Bienart. The Hebrew University Magnes Press Ltd. 1981.

The third volume in the Hispania Judaica Series, this well written story of the converso community of Ciudad Real in Spain, based on the Inquisition trials of the mid 15th century.  The book was written by Haim Beinart (1917-2010), Professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an expert on this subject, and contains a list of names, sometimes also providing the names of relatives, house locations, and professions. Based on the Inquisition's records, it is a portrait of the Conversos' deep yearning for their Jewish past and the ultimate sacrifice they were prepared to offer for their continued adherence to their ancestral faith.

 


Apellidos de Judios Sefardies (Surnames of the Sephardic Jews) from the site Comunidad Judia Del Principado de Asturias

The Principality of Asturias (Spanish: Principado de Asturias - Asturian: Principáu d'Asturies) is an autonomous community within the kingdom of Spain, former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages. It is situated on the Spanish North coast facing the Cantabrian Sea (Mar Cantábrico, the Spanish name for the Bay of Biscay). The most important cities are the provincial capital, Oviedo, the seaport and largest city Gijón, and the industrial town of Avilés. No one knows the exact date at which Jews arrived in Asturias. Based solely on the documentation found so far in Asturias, there are clear references to the mid-eleventh century Council of Coyanza held in the Diocese of Oviedo in 1050 which states in Chapter VI: "... no Christian shall live in the same house with Jews or eat with them; if anyone infringes our constitution, they shall do penance for seven days, and if not willing to do it, being a noble person, they shall be deprived of communion for a full year, and if an inferior person they will receive a hundred lashes." But it is in the twelfth century when the rise and importance of the Jewish people is more noticeable in this region. Jewish witness signatures begin to appear more often on donation pledge cards from 1133. Asturias names are not very common among the Jewish population in other parts of the peninsula around the same time, perhaps causing confusion.


ETSI, Volume 4, No.12 dated March 2001, "Aliases in Amsterdam", by Viberke Sealtiel-Olsen, a list of alias names used by Sephardim in Amsterdam. True Sephardic Name=Alias Name

When the Conversos fled Portugal to settle in Amsterdam they returned openly to Judaism. Because they often still had relatives in Portugal, they tried to protect them by using aliases in their transactions. However, it wasn’t only the Portuguese who wound up in Amsterdam. Even a century after 1492, conversos were finding their way from Spain to Amsterdam. Listing a person as a Portuguese merchant generally meant he was Jewish. Their family contacts worldwide, along with their language skills, were great commercial assets in their farflung business ventures. And in their contacts with family back home, they had to be discreet as to not bring suspicion on relatives left behind This work is a wonderful research tool for Sephardic research in Amsterdam.


ETSI, Volume 4, No.12 dated March 2001, "Aliases in Amsterdam", by Viberke Sealtiel-Olsen, a list of alias names used by Sephardim in Amsterdam. Alias Name=True Sephardic Name

When the Conversos fled Portugal to settle in Amsterdam they returned openly to Judaism. Because they often still had relatives in Portugal, they tried to protect them by using aliases in their transactions. However, it wasn’t only the Portuguese who wound up in Amsterdam. Even a century after 1492, conversos were finding their way from Spain to Amsterdam. Listing a person as a Portuguese merchant generally meant he was Jewish. Their family contacts worldwide, along with their language skills, were great commercial assets in their farflung business ventures. And in their contacts with family back home, they had to be discreet as to not bring suspicion on relatives left behind This work is a wonderful research tool for Sephardic research in Amsterdam.


Associazione Donne Ebree d'Italia (Wizo - Woman's International Zionist Organization of Italy); Milan, 1997.

Adei-Wizo is a voluntary, non-profit organization , active in Italy for over 70 years where it now has 20 branches with about 3.000 members. It is one of 52 such federations all over the world dedicated to the status of women and the welfare of Israeli society. It encourages Jewish education both in Israel and in the Diaspora.


Nota dei Mezzani ebrei di Livorno approvati nel 1765 (The Jews of Livorno 1765), in Archivio Storico, Italy, 1989

List of Jews in Livorno in 1765, published in "Italian Historical Archives", a magazine founded in 1842 and published under the auspices of the Deputation of National History in Tuscany.


Stephen Birmingham. The Grandees. America's Sephardic Elite; New York, 1971

This is a historical romance about the first Jews who settled in the USA. The group was comprised of Jews that were born in Portugal, who came through the Netherlands, the Caribbean and England before settling in the USA. The author focuses on the fact that they married between themselves, thereby adhering to their Jewish faith.


Ugo Caffaz. Discrimination & Persecution of the Jews in Fascist Italy, Florence, 1988.

Written by a Jewish sociologist in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of Mussolini's anti-semitic measures. These began with a manifesto on the race prepared by Italian "scientists" on 14 July 1938 and continued with successive, ever more draconian, edicts throughout the year. This work collects much of this legislation, which expelled foreign Jews from Italian soil and deprived Italian Jews of their civil rights, stripped them of party membership, expelled them from the armed forces, removed them from their positions in government service (and, thus, from educational institutions), barred students from the universities and the public schools, banned marriages between Christians and Jews, forbade Christians from domestic employment in Jewish homes and Jews from the ownership and management of large corporations, among other punitive measures. One of the most valuable features of this book is its listing of every Jew expelled from the education system, specifying university affiliation and discipline.


Paul Armony. "Apellidos sefardies mas frecuentes obtenidos de los cementerios Avellaneda - Lomas de Zamora - Ciudadela (Acis y Asia) - Tablada Sefaradi y Bancalari" (Common sephardic names as taken from the Avellaneda Cemetery). SEFARAires Nº9 / 2003 página 7.

Paul Armony, President of the Jewish Genealogy Association in Argentina, collected and organized 19,060 records from six Jewish Sephardic cemeteries in Argentina. Of the 3682 surnames of deceased found there, 58% were found to have the same 334 surnames.


Babani and Weinfeld. Portugal Jewish Encyclopedia, Castellana, Mexico, 1948.

A Jewish Encyclopedia in 10 volumes: the Jewish people in the past and present - their history, their religion, their customs, their literature, their art, their leaders, and more.


Nissim Elnecave. Los Hijos de Ibero-Franconia. Breviario del Mundo Sefaradí desde los Orígenes hasta nuestros días(The Children of Iberia-Spain: World Sephardic Breviary from the beginning to today), Editorial "La Luz", Buenos Aires, 1981.

In this work on Sephardic history, the author argues his main thesis: Sephardic is a cultural concept, and therefore should not be restricted to descendants of Portuguese and Spanish Jews, but should also extend to France, Italy and the Arab world.


List of surnames of Jews residing in Toledo prior to expulsion edict.

From Nahman Family Research.


Gina Formiggini. Stella d'Italia, Stella di David. Gli Ebrei dal Risorgimento alla Resistenza (Italy's Star, Star of David: The Jews from the Risorgimento to the Resistance), published by Murcia, Milan, 1970 (reprinted 1998).

The documented evidence of the presence of the Jewish Community in the history of Italy.


Genaro Garcia. La lnquisicion de Mexico. Autos de Fe. Tumultos y Rebeliones en Mexico (The Inquisition in Mexico: Autos de Fe,Riots & Rebellions), Mexico, 1982.

The Mexican Inquisition was an extension of the Spanish Inquisition into the New World. Almost all of events associated with the official establishment of the Holy Office of the Inquisition occurred in Mexico City, where the Holy Office had its own headquarters. The official period of the Inquisition lasted from 1571 to 1820. A group that suffered during this time were the so-called “crypto-Jews” of Portuguese descent. Many converted Portuguese Jews came to New Spain looking for commercial opportunities. In 1642, 150 of these individuals were arrested within three or four days, and the Inquisition began a series of trials. These people were accused of being ‘judaisers,’ meaning they still held Judaic beliefs. Many of these were merchants involved in New Spain’s principal activities. On 11 April 1649, the viceregal state staged the largest ever auto da fe in New Spain, in which twelve of the accused were burned after being strangulated and one person was burned alive. Most of the remainder were ‘reconciled’ and deported to Spain


Albert Montefiore Hyamson. The Sefaradim of England, Methuen, 1951.

This is a history of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community in the years 1492-1951 by Albert Montefiore Hyamson (1875-1954),a British zionist and historian who served as chief immigration officer in the British Mandate of Palestine from 1921 to 1934. He argued that Christians should assist the Jews in creating and protecting the new state to atone for their persecution of the Jews in the past.


Julio Caro Baroja. Los judios en la Espana Moderna y Contemporanea (The Jews in Modern and Contemporary Spain), I,II,III, Madrid, 1986

In these 3 volumes, the author relates the history of the descendants of Jews in Spain, mainly with respect to the persecution of New-Christians, and their contribution of this group to the country.


Jean Pierre Filippini. Il Porto di Livorno e La Toscana (1676-1814)(The Port of Livorno and Tuscany 1676-1814), Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli, 1998.

Contains the census of Jews in Livorno in 1809.


List of Members and Rabbis of the Congregation "Kahal Kadosh Neveh Shalom", founded in 1704, Website, Jamaica.

Neveh Shalom - Dwelling Place of Peace - was one of the first synagogues built in Spanish Town, Jamaica during the 17th century. The Neveh Shalom Institute is chartered to promote projects to preserve the history, culture, and artifacts of the Jewish existence in, and contribution to Jamaica, from the 17th century.


Livio Livi. Gli Ebrei Alia Luce della Statistica (The Jews in the light of statistics) , Vallecchi Editore Florence, 1920.

A study on the ethnic individuality and historical demography of the Italian Jewish population.


Gary Mokotoff. Avotaynu.

Gary Mokotoff is a noted author, lecturer and leader of Jewish genealogy. He has been recognized by three major genealogical groups for his achievements. Avotaynu, The International Review of Jewish Genealogy, was founded in 1985 as a 20-page semiannual; it has grown to 68-page quarterly that is one of the most respected magazines in genealogy. The Avotaynu Consolidated Jewish Surname Index (CJSI) enables search by surname on 42 different databases.


A. Rodriguez-Monino. Les Judaisants a Badajoz de 1493 a 1599 (Secret Jews in Badajoz from 1493 until 1599), Paris, 1956.

This article includes a list of 231 condemned in chronological order and a list ordered by family names.


Emma Moya. New Mexico's Sephardim: Uncovering Jewish Roots in La Herencia del Norte: Our Past, Our Present, Our Future, Vol. XII, Winter 1996. (www.herencia.com).

According to author, Emma Moya, in an article written for La Herencia Del Norte, Volume XXII, Winter, 1996, there is evidence that many of the families who settled in New Spain were forced to convert to Catholicism during the Spanish and Mexican Inquisition. The article goes on to list many relevant Sephardic names.


Franco Pisa, "Parnassim: le grandi Famiglie Ebraiche Italiane dal Secolo 11 al 19" (Parnassim : The great Italian Jewish families from 11th to 19th centuries), edited by Ariel Toaff in Annuario di Studi Ebraici, Carucci Editore, Rome, 1984

This is a recommended work about the genealogy of the great Italian families.


Stefano Jesurum, "Essere Ebrei in ltalia nella testimonianza di ventuno protagonisti", Longanesi, Milan,1987 (Being a Jew in Italy: From the Testimonies of 21 Persons)

Stefano Jesurum was born in Milan in 1951. His parents were Venetian and descended from a Portuguese Sephardic family. During the persecution, most of the family took refuge in Switzerland. He is associated with Left Wing Politics in Italy.


Malcolm H. Stern. First American Jewish Families. 600 Genealogies. 1654-1988, Ottenheimer Editors, Inc., 1991.

When it first appeared in 1960, Malcolm Stern's Americans of Jewish Descent marked a milestone in the study of American Jewish genealogy. Researchers now have access to the complete text of Rabbi Stern's monumental volume that was published in 1991 as the updated and revised 3rd edition entitled: First American Jewish Families: 600 Genealogies, 1654-1988.


The Abarbanel Foundation Website, "Reintegrating the Lost Jews of Spain & Portugal"

List of names of forcibly converted Jews who were tried by the Spanish Inquisition for practicing Judaism in Mexico in the years 1528 - 1815


Distinguished Jewish bearers of the López name and its variants include : Rodrigo Lopes (c. 1525 – June 7, 1594)physician to Queen Elizabeth Sabatino Lopez (1867-1951), Italian Playwright

Around the 12th century, surnames started to become common in Iberia. In Spain, where Arab-Jewish influence was significant, these new names retained their old original structure, so that many of the Jewish surnames were of Hebrew derivation. Others were directly related to geographical locations and were acquired due to the forced wanderings caused by exile and persecution. Other family names were a result of conversion, when the family accepted the name of their Christian sponsor. In many cases, the Portuguese Jews bear surnames of pure Iberian/Christian origin. Many names have been changed in the course of migration from country to country. In yet other cases "aliases", or totally new names, were adopted due to fear of persecution by the Inquisition.

Here are some locations where registries of Sephardic or Christianized Jewish families with this surname have been traced: Badajoz, Spain,Boston, MA, USA,Buenos Aires, Argentina,Florence, Italy,Fundao, Portugal,Genova, Italy,Gorizia, Italy,Livorno (Leghorn), Italy,London, England,Malaga, Spain,Mexico City, Mexico,Milan, Italy,Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal,New York, USA,Newport,RI, USA,Savanna-La-Mar, Jamaica,Spanishtown, Jamaica,Toledo, Spain,Vila do Conde, Brasil,

Some interesting facts about the name this name are :The name Lopez appears in the records of the Inquisition of Toledo.

A common variation of López is Lopez.

The following websites are relevant to the surname Lópezhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Lopez_(physician),http://bneianussim.wordpress.com/2008/12/23/lopez-dalmeida/,

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