Araújo


Araújo or Araujo or Arauxo is a Galician and Portuguese surname. The surname Araújo is of toponymic origin derived from :gl:Ara%C3%BAxo,_Lobios| a place in the Province of Ourense which is part of the Autonomous Community of Galicia in North Western Spain next to the Portuguese border where a Crusader Knight of French Noble descent, Don Rodrigo Anes, was rewarded with reconquered Iberian lands during the Reconquista. Don Rodrigo Anes de Araújo lived in the 14th century during the reign of King Ferdinand I of Portugal. Don Rodrigo Anes de Araújo built a Castle and named it Araújo which can be found in all the ancient Galician maps.
Later Pedro Anes de Araújo decided to move from Galicia to live in Portugal and because of this the surname Araújo seems to be a habitational name in Portugal and can be found in and around Portuguese cities such as Coimbra, Elvas, Estremoz, Lisbon, Torre de Moncorvo, Monção, Serpa, Setúbal, and Vila Verde.
The poisonous plant with white fragrant flowers known in Latin as Araujia sericifera was named after the botanist António de Araújo e Azevedo, 1st Count of Barca, who was a descendant of Rodrigo Anes de Araújo.

History

The progenitor of this surname Araújo is Rodrigo Anes, who was lord of the lands known as :gl:Araúxo, Lobios|Araúxo located in Southern Kingdom of Galicia in modern NW Spain in the Galician Province of Ourense close to the Miño/Minho river. This river marked the border between Kingdom of Galicia and Northern Portugal, which had been a part of the Kingdom of Galicia in the 12th century.
Rodrigo Anes, better known as Rodrigo Anes de Araújo, was descended from members of the royal families of the kingdom of France and the kingdom of Burgundy via a noble Knight named Jean Tiranoth.
Rodrigo Anes de Araújo constructed the Castle of Araújo in the Kingdom of Galicia and married Doña Mayor Alvares de Aza, who was the daughter of a noble family which was somehow related to Rodrigo Anes de Araújo. Doña Mayor Alvares de Aza was the daughter of Don Rodrigo Alvares de Aza and Doña Maria Pires de Ambia. From this marriage descended the Araújo family of Kingdom of Galicia, who were lords of many houses in that Kingdom through marriage.
The Bishop of Malaca, João Ribeiro Gaio, wrote about the location of the ancient Araújo family cemetery in the following manner:
Através de Bitorinho
tem sepulcros já gastados
Araújos afamados
na terra que rega o Minho,
antigos, abalisados.
English Translation
Across the Bitorinho
in the land watered by the Miño River
there are now-worn graves of
famous Araújos,
ancient and magnified.
Later, in 1492, the Kingdom of Galicia along with other Kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula were united to become the Kingdom of Spain. Throughout Spain's colonial period between the 16th and 19th century a number of Galician Spaniards bearing the surname Araújo in the service of the King of Spain moved to colonize the territories of the Spanish Empire in North America and South America.
One of the grandchildren of Rodrigo Anes de Araújo known in Portuguese chronicles as Vasco Rodriguez de Araújo, decided to leave Spain and settle in Portugal, where he entered the service of the Kings of Portugal. Throughout Portugal's colonial period a number of Portuguese bearing the Araújo surname moved to settle Portugal's overseas empire.

Notable people with the surname

Church