Where did the name Pereira come from? What is their coat of arms? When did the Pereira family first arrive in the United States? Where did the various branches of the family go? What is the history of the family name?

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Coat of Arms > Pereira Coat of Arms

Pereira Coat of Arms and Name History

Pereira

Origin Displayed: Portuguese

Origins Available: Portuguese, Spanish

Spelling variations of this family name include: Pereira, Perera, Perreira and others.

First found in Northern Portugal near the Spanish border. The ancestors of the bearers of this name are thought to descend from Don Mendo "irmao" of Desiderio, King of the Lombards.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Guimar Pereira, who is on record in New Spain in 1562; Simon Pereira, who came to Chile in 1555; Esther Lopes Pereira, who was Naturalized in Jamaica in 1745.

Some noteworthy people of the name Pereira

Irene Rice Pereira (1907-1971), American abstract painter
William Leonard Pereira (1909-1985), an American architect
Manuel Gómez Pereira, American film director
Jonathan Pereira (1804-1853), English pharmacologist
Steve Pereira, British born editor, poet and writer
Aristides Maria Pereira (b. 1923), a Cape Verdean nationalist and politician, who was the first president of Cape Verde from 1975-1991