Message: "Are formosa and formoso related?"

[Surname] Are formosa and formoso related?

by sean vella (guest)

11/21/2013, 6:05 PM

Hello my ancestor had a surname called Formosa. Is it Spanish? There is the surname Formoso and it is Spanish. Formoso is common in Galicia, Spain. Is Formosa a Spanish surname?

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- Philidel

11/30/2013, 8:59 PM

Formosa/Formoso seem to be Galician or Portuguese... Since it means "beautiful", seems to be a very old surname, maybe from the time Portuguese language was mixed with Spanish and Galician (approx. until the 10th century). Formoso is a common name in Brazil, where I live.

This message was edited 11/30/2013, 9:03 PM

- Marc (guest) +7

11/22/2013, 10:56 AM

Formoso/Formosa can be Italian, Catalan, Galician and Portuguese. The equivalent Spanish form is Hermoso/Hermosa.

- Sean Vella (guest) +6

11/22/2013, 3:09 PM

Hello Marc how do you know this?

- Marc (guest) +5

11/23/2013, 8:32 AM

For Italian, see tinyurl.com/km7as49 and tinyurl.com/m6wsg5n. For the others, see http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=formoso and http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=formosa.

- Sean vella (guest) +4

11/24/2013, 3:16 PM

So are formosa and formoso related?

- Marc (guest) +3

11/25/2013, 9:11 AM

Yes, they're simply the masculine and feminine form of the same word, like Italian Bello and Bella or French Lebeau and Labelle.

- Sean Vella (guest) +2

11/27/2013, 6:04 PM

I understand but Formosa is a surname in Malta. Formoso is one in Spain. Could you explain any relation or reason why is it that?

- Marc (guest) +1

11/27/2013, 7:17 PM

The reason is simply that an Italian named Formosa emigrated to Malta at some point and nobody named Formoso from Spain (or anywhere else) ever did. This is evident from Cassar's The Surnames of the Maltese Islands, which I mentioned previously.

- Sean (guest)

12/14/2013, 3:42 PM

Can you show me proof of this?

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