Nature, saints and “son of”
Portuguese surnames lean heavily on the natural world — Silva “forest,” Pereira “pear tree,” Oliveira “olive tree,” Carvalho “oak” — as well as patronymics ending in -es (Rodrigues, “son of Rodrigo”; Gonçalves, “son of Gonçalo”) and religious names like Santos, “saints.”
Two family names
As in Spanish, people traditionally carry two surnames, though the Portuguese order places the mother’s name first and the father’s last — the reverse of Spanish custom.