Angolan Last Name Generator

Browse Angolan last names one surname at a time: Portuguese family names like Neto and Fernandes, given names used as surnames such as Domingos and Sebastião, old Luanda names like Van-Dúnem, and Bantu-language surnames including Chivukuvuku, Nsimba and Quitongo.

About Angolan last names

Angolan surnames come from two directions. Portuguese has been the language of church and civil registers for centuries, so family names such as Neto, Fernandes, Gomes and dos Santos are everywhere, joined by particle forms like da Costa and do Nascimento and by double surnames such as Vieira Dias and Pinto de Andrade. A few names belong to the old creole families of Luanda and Cabinda, among them Van-Dúnem, Burity, Mingas and Franque.

The most Angolan habit is the given name used as a surname. A child is often registered with the father's first name in last place, which is how Domingos, Manuel, Sebastião, Mateus and António came to be everyday last names. This list keeps about seventy of them.

Roughly half of the entries come from Angola's own languages: Umbundu names of the central highlands such as Chivukuvuku, Samakuva and Epalanga, Kikongo names of the north such as Nsimba, Nzuzi and Matondo, and names from Luanda's hinterland, the east and the south. Spelling follows two systems. Portuguese orthography writes C and Qu where Bantu orthographies write K, so Quitongo and Cassule sit beside Kassoma and Kiala, and Tch marks the sound English spells ch, as in Tchipilica. Where one name has both spellings, only one is listed.

How to choose Angolan last names

• For a full name, put a Portuguese given name in front, as in Esperança Kiala or Mateus Quitongo. A second given name or the father's first name often sits in the middle.
• A character whose surname is Domingos, Manuel or Sebastião is entirely ordinary in Angola. Pick one when you want a name that reads as everyday.
• Keep the spelling you find here. Quissanga and Kassoma follow different conventions, and swapping C for K changes how the name looks on a document.
• Particles are written in lower case and stay with the surname: dos Santos, da Costa, de Carvalho. Alphabetical lists in Portuguese usually file them under the main word.
• A surname is not a reliable guide to a family's origins. Portuguese names are carried by Angolans of every background, and many people combine one with a name from an Angolan language.

Frequently asked questions

What are common Angolan last names?

Portuguese surnames such as dos Santos, Neto, Fernandes, Gomes and da Silva are widespread, and so are given names used as surnames, including Domingos, Manuel, Sebastião and António. Among names from Angolan languages, the list includes Nsimba, Kiala, Jamba, Chitunda and Quissanga. The order of the list is not a frequency ranking.

Why do so many Angolans have a first name as a surname?

It comes from the way names were registered. Instead of a fixed family name, a child was often given the father's given name as a last name, so the son of a man called Domingos might be recorded as João Domingos. Over generations many of these settled into hereditary surnames, which is why Mateus, Francisco and Pedro appear here as last names.

Why are some names spelled with C or Qu and others with K?

Two spelling traditions are in use. Portuguese spelling makes little use of K, so names written down in Portuguese-language registers took C before a, o and u and Qu before e and i, giving Cassule, Cazanga and Quitongo. The orthographies used for Bantu languages write the same sound with K, as in Kassoma, Kiala and Kangamba.

Is this a list of full names?

No. Every entry is a surname on its own, including two-part forms such as Vieira Dias and particle forms such as do Rosário. For given names and complete names, use the Angolan Name Generator, which lists full names from the same traditions.

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All 500 Angolan last names