If you ever revise this article a very fascinating aspect are the names the Spanish Jews took on during the inquisition. They were pretending to be Catholic as they would otherwise have died but wanted to recognise each other, so they picked specific names that were known to them to be Jewish families.
Many of the names were plant or animal names, like Romero - Rosemary, Leon - Lion, Pereira - Peartree . I was once in Portugal and came through a deeply Catholic, little village and, don’t ask me why, I went to look at the cemetery and most names were Jewish names.
If you ever revise this article a very fascinating aspect are the names the Spanish Jews took on during the inquisition. They were pretending to be Catholic as they would otherwise have died but wanted to recognise each other, so they picked specific names that were known to them to be Jewish families.
Many of the names were plant or animal names, like Romero - Rosemary, Leon - Lion, Pereira - Peartree . I was once in Portugal and came through a deeply Catholic, little village and, don’t ask me why, I went to look at the cemetery and most names were Jewish names.
I plan on doing another post specifically about this. Thank you!