Portugal Family History

Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, English (Lincolnshire), and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) are all ethnic names or habitational names for someone from Portugal or who had connections with Portugal. The name of the country derives from Late Latin Portucale, originally denoting the district around Oporto.

Portus Cales is named with Latin portus meaning ‘port harbor’ and Cales, which is the ancient name of the city. In some cases, the surname may be simply a nickname for someone who had business connections with Portugal.

The English surname is a rare variant of Pettengill.