Pereira (surname)


Pereira is a common surname in the Portuguese and Galician languages, a well known Sephardic Jewish surname, quite common mostly in Portugal, the Galicia region of Spain, Brazil, other regions of the former Portuguese Empire, among Galician descendants in Spanish-speaking Latin America and by adoption also common among Sephardic Jews of Portuguese origin throughout the Sephardic Jewish diaspora. Currently, it is one of the most common surnames in South America and Europe.
It was originally a noble Christian toponym of the Middle Ages, taken from the feudal possession of Pereira, Portugal, which in Portuguese means 'pear tree'.
The variants of this name are more commonly found in other countries such as Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Pereire, for example, is a French variant. Many Portuguese immigrants to the United States, especially Massachusetts, chose to Americanize their surname to Perry.
As a toponymic surname, it does not refer to a single lineage with a single founder, but to various unrelated lineages.

People

See also Perera

Politics