Among the three western nations that invaded Sri Lanka, the Portuguese can be called the nation that had a great impact on our culture. While sailing somewhere across the Indian Ocean, in 1505, Lorenzo Almeida, who was caught by a storm and washed up in an area near the Galle port in Sri Lanka, opened the door to stories about the Portuguese influence in the history of Sri Lanka due to the leading sailors and the local rulers who quarreled with each other. The attitude of King Vijayabahu VII, who reigned in Kotte at that time, towards these foreigners is clear from the saying 'Parangiya Kotte went like that' and the history associated with it. One expression of that attitude is the action of the Sinhalese king to take Parangia on a 'pilgrimage' from Colombo and finally enter the city of Kotte to indicate that Kotte is not far from Colombo. The Portuguese, who can be called a mercantile nation, immediately asked the King of Kotte to give them a plot of land suitable only for 'skinning'. It appeared that there was no reason for King Vijayabahu not to allow such a 'small' space, so permission was granted. But then what the Portuguese did was to tear the geri (cow) skin into thin strips and surrounded a large area around the port of Colombo and built a large fort. In 1505 AD, the Portuguese landed in Ceylon in some way, but because our kings worked to bring them into the country's politics, the coast around the island was under Portuguese occupation until 1658.
It is clear that the primary purpose of the Portuguese who landed in Ceylon in 1505 was trade and not preaching, because the Portuguese were not interested in bringing Catholic missionaries to Sri Lanka until thirty-three years later, i.e. 1538. However, although it is clear that Catholicism was the most beautiful gift the Portuguese brought to Sri Lanka, the reaction they have seen towards Buddhist and Hindu dharma is totally unacceptable in today's mentality. Because the common Catholic teaching at the time was 'Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus', meaning there is no salvation outside the (Catholic) Church. Accordingly, we can see in history attempts to 'impose' their religion on them, for better or for worse, motivated by the idea that there is no salvation for those who believe in other religions.
It appears that even today some extremist Islamists view other religions with this mindset. The decisive Second Vatican Council from 1962-65, which officially removed this mentality from Catholics, declared in not one but two declarations that heathenism also contains the seeds of truth. A mistake made by many missionaries in the 16th century was to try to give their own culture to other nations along with the dharma. This is why Father Siri Oska Abayaratne, who was later responsible for building a local Catholic people, stated that 'since they gave us the European culture along with the Catholic religion, the Catholics of this country have not been able to separate these two'.
It appears that in the 16th century, a Sri Lankan's conversion to Catholicism was a complete conversion to Portuguese culture. Because not only the names but also the surnames of the baptized were Portugueseized. Accordingly, Kusumasana Devi becomes Dona Katarina and Karaliyadde Bandara becomes Don Philip. Aligiawanna Mukaveti, the author of Subhasita, a well-known Hela poet of the Kotte era, was also once baptized as "Don Geranimo" and was a Catholic. During that time, he composed a collection of poems praising a Portuguese general called 'Constantineu Hatana'. However, the primary purpose of this article is not to talk about the history of the Portuguese in Sri Lanka, but to investigate the Portuguese family names still used today in our country due to their influence and their different origins and meanings, and make a brief investigation about it.
It appears that the majority of the people in the lowland areas of Sri Lanka, especially along the coast from Puttalam to Matara, embraced Catholicism and acquired Portuguese surnames at that time, but in Tamil-majority areas such as Mannar, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, even though the people converted to Catholicism, they adopted Portuguese surnames as much as the Sinhalese. You can think about checking their surnames. But due to Dutch oppression and caste oppression, people of Kalutara, Galle and Matara districts may have abandoned the Catholic faith in large numbers when comparing the reports of Catholic missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries and the current religious population. However, it appears that these people still use the Portuguese surnames they received. We think that is why many Portuguese surnames such as Pereira, Silva, Fernando, Kure, Diaz etc. are used even among Buddhists. As mentioned before, let us now examine the Portuguese family names that we Sri Lankans have inherited. These surnames are probably Portuguese, Spanish, Latin and German inspired and we can imagine that we got them through Portuguese. It can also be observed that these family names have been reset to the shape of our pig today. Now let's find out what are these Portuguese surnames used among us.
Silva, Pereira, Fernando, Diaz, Mendes (Mendis), De Mirandu, Currey, De Mel, Kruse, Peiris. Paris, Gomez, Gomes, Vaz, Fonseca, Alvis, Almeida, Cabral, Nonis, Soyza, Suarez, Rodrigo, Ruberu, Ruben, Rabel, Correa, Dalpadatu, Botheju, Dareju, Livera, Sigeira, Piguera, Currera, Pascu.
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