Guides
Guides to names
Practical explanations, with the source of every rule.
- Rules for Registering a Child's Name in Brazil
What Brazil's Public Records Law on a child's name: deadline, who declares, surnames, refused names, the 15-day objection window and changing a first name.
- Compound names and agnomes
Compound names like Maria Eduarda and agnomes like Filho, Júnior, Neto and Sobrinho: how they are registered and why IBGE counts only the first word.
- Accents and spellings of names
Why IBGE publishes names without accents, what Brazilian spelling rules say about personal names, and how spellings like Thaís and Taís are counted separately.
- How to read IBGE's data on names
What the 2022 Census numbers on each name page show: decade of birth, sex, median age, states, undisclosed data and the 2010 Census.
- Names of Tupi origin
Where Iara, Iracema, Ubirajara, Moacir, Jaci and Cauã come from: Old Tupi, José de Alencar's novels, and why their meanings are debated.