Pimentel (surname)

Coat of arms of the House of Pimentel

The Pimentel family is an old Iberian aristocratic family that belonged to both, the Spanish and Portuguese nobility.[1]

Pimentel is also a Portuguese and Spanish surname denoting pepper plants and spices.

Individuals with this surname

History

The association with peppers and spices suggests the name's roots in farming and trade and the cultivated lands themselves.

Ancestry of the surname has been linked to Petrus Martini Pimentel (b. 1252) and João Afonso Pimentel, a Portuguese knight.[2]

The name spread throughout the Portuguese Empire and the subsequent Portuguese diaspora, as well as the House of Pimentel, a Spanish noble family of Portuguese origin established in the Crown of Castile.

In the history of the Jews in Portugal, the name is often traced to Sephardi Jews, specifically the conversos to Catholicism during the Portuguese Inquisition. Tribunal records now maintained in the Torre do Tombo National Archive contain hundreds of examples of New Christian Pimentels.

The Pimentel surname was associated with prominent spice traders throughout the 16th & early 17th centuries.

References

  1. ^ https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/pimentel/279/
  2. ^ "Família Pimentel". Origem do Sobrenome. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021.