Family Days
More than one million Brazilians currently sign with the surname Dias, however, not all of them necessarily have the same origin. What is known is that the surname was born in the Iberian Peninsula, having registered in both Portugal and Spain. In Brazil, from White Days, matriarch of the branch Dias Fernandes, it is possible to track several Sephardic descendants, many of whom have already been certified by Israeli Community of Lisbon (CIL) and the Israeli Community of Porto (CIP).
THE Christian-Nova Branca Dias is well known among genealogists, because its vast descent with Diogo Fernandes populates the entire Northeast of Brazil. In fact, according to researcher Cândido Pinheiro, 97% of the Northeastern population has Jewish blood, many of whom are direct descendants of the couple. Just to focus on Dias Fernandes, it is possible to find direct family members throughout Brazil, especially, of course, in Pernambuco, with branches in other states, with emphasis on Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Bahia and Ceará, where thanks to the wedding of Augustine of Holland with one of the couple's granddaughters, Maria de Paiva, several important families from Ceará emerged, such as Ximenes Aragão, Netherlands, Ferreira Gomes and, of course, several branches of the Dias family, such as Dias de Sousa.
The origin of the surname
As strange as it may seem, the surname Dias does not derive from the word day (unit of time), but rather, it has a patronymic origin from Diogo or Diego, that is, it refers to the children of people with these names. And as curious as it may seem, Diogo is an abbreviation for Santiago, which had changes for Sant-Yago and Tiago until it reached Diogo (and Diego, in Spanish).
This origin does not even allow pointing the exact place where it arose, since many families, from different regions of Portugal (Days) and Spain (Diaz or Díaz) adopted the surname. Later, other families adopted Dias without following this logic and, therefore, without any relationship, in addition to the translations made of the surname in other countries.
The forced conversions to Christianity led many Jews to adopt different surnames that hid their origin. Due to his popularity at that time, Dias was one of them and, even after migrating to other countries where there was no persecution, the descendants of Jews kept the surname.
Thus, not everyone who bears the surname Dias can claim to have descended from Jews, but the probability, especially in Northeast Brazil, is quite considerable.
Important to remember
Last names are indications, but they do not determine whether or not you are descendants of Sephardic Jews. To prove this link, a genealogical study is really necessary.
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