Nationality of Borges
I'm confused about the nationality of the surname, Borges. When I was looking up Jewish surnames, I found it on the list. Yet, someone that I know has it and he's a native of Brazil. Can someone please straighten this out?
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Replies

Borges is Catalan and comes from a placename in that region.
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My fiance has last name he is Puerto Rican & Portuguese.
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Haven't you heard of Jorge Luis Borges? He is a wonderful Argentinean writer, proabably the best writer in the Spanish language... Names and Surnames travel a lot you know... I'm myself a Peruvian with Italian and Scottish surnames... However his surname has Spanish pronunciation and a spanish tradition... Genealogy points it to be Spanish... case in which it might be the plural of a lost word "borg" or "borge" (which has English-looking spelling) or means "son of" (ez/es) "borg/borge" which would then be a personal surname with any european origin (not necessarily Spanish, the surname "Ivañez" adds the "ez" of "son of" to "Ivan" russian version of the Spanish "Juan" or English "John")
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I am Jewish and my mother's Mother's surname is Borgues, derived from Borges. We are Sephardic Jews.
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Hi Jessica,

Borges / Borjes / Borjas are Spanish and Portuguese place names, but Borges can also be a German surname deriving from the first name Liborius / Liberius.

http://www.behindthename.com/php/search.php?terms=liberius

Regards, Satu
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