DaSilva, Ferreira, Pereira. These surnames that are very popular in Brazil and Portugal are now also the most common in a region of Switzerland. That’s what you’re reading. In the French-speaking part of the country, they appear in the top three. “Da Silva” ranks first with 10,220 people with that surname. Among them, the Brazilian Dulcimara Aparecida da Silva, who teaches Portuguese to children and adults.
The miner from Boa Esperança, who has lived in France, Italy, the Czech Republic and Portugal, has been in Geneva for ten years and is very familiar with the surname that has become the most common in Romance Switzerland. Her two grandfathers, on her father’s and mother’s side — Joaquim and Antônio — were “da Silva”.
Dulcimara’s surname is also the most common in the cantons of Vaud, Geneva, Fribourg and Neuchâtel. This data was first released by the OFS, the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, and caught the attention of the local press and many people.
“I was super surprised. I didn’t know there was such a thing in Switzerland, a classification of surnames and, to my amazement, mine is the one with the most. For me, it’s an honor, because in Brazil more than half of the population is ‘from the Silva’. It’s a super common surname. So that’s not being important. In my whole life, ‘da Silva’ wasn’t a big name,” he says.
To RFI, Dulcimara tells what she felt when her husband came home the other day talking about the research:
“I was extremely proud,” she says, laughing. “The best known, the largest number of people who have that surname in Switzerland! So, it’s an honor. Not only in Brazil, now in Switzerland too”, says the professor, who finds the research interesting for “valuing foreigners, your origin”.
Dulcimara also says that she knows many Portuguese and Brazilians “da Silva”, “like Ayrton” (Senna da Silva), who live in Switzerland.
In total, 17 of the 20 most common surnames in French Switzerland are from Portugal and Brazil; only Favre (6th), Martin (8th) and Muller (12th) are from here. In the first five places are “da Silva” (10,220), Ferreira (7,326), Pereira (6,537), dos Santos (6,091) and Rodrigues (5,250). Gomes, Fernandes, Lopes, Martins, Oliveira, Alves and only Silva are others who also show up there.
Portuguese surnames (or surnames)
One of the reasons that explain the predominance of these surnames Da Silva, Ferreira and Pereira, for example, is that in French Switzerland there are many Portuguese people. There are more than 150 thousand people with this nationality, which means 7% of the total population and 22% of the foreign population. The architect Maria Inês de Jesus Ferreira is one of them.
“So, my nickname is Ferreira, last name for you. I had no idea it was one of the most common in Switzerland. In Portugal, it really is a family name that exists a lot. But we say that everyone is ‘da Silva’ in Portugal”, he explains.
The architect found it curious when she learned that her surname was so popular. “It’s funny, because I had no idea that there were so many people. Even because I myself only know two, three people”, she says.
The body responsible for disclosing the data, however, explained that it is not because a person is called “Da Silva” that he is necessarily Portuguese and, on the other hand, someone called “Favre” can be. The institution also reported that only the first surname of each was taken into account. For example, a person with the surnames “da Silva Ferreira Pereira” entered as only “da Silva”.
The surnames of Brazilian Amanda Pereira Santos, who is from Aracaju, Sergipe, but has lived in Switzerland for 15 years, also appear on the most popular lists.
“So, I didn’t know that my surname was one of the most common here in the French part and I was even quite surprised. I was also wondering how this is seen by the Swiss, whether it’s positive or not. I don’t know if they take it like a kind of invasion. I’m kind of curious to know this point of view, how the Swiss see it”, he says.
Most common in Switzerland
Taking Switzerland as a whole into account, the “Mullers” are the most numerous (53,686 people), followed by the “Meier” (33,054) and Schmid (30,534). At the national level, “da Silva” appears in 10th place (16,990). According to official data, the Swiss population today is 8.7 million people.
The local press highlighted the results of the survey, showing “the emergence of a trend: the predominance of Portuguese surnames in French Switzerland”.
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