rise to the various branches of families the aforementioned signs and many more. The Cerqueira family mixed with the Portuguese population and after generations they had many of their members truly converting to Christianity and often turning away from its Jewish origins. In the book Nobuario das Familias de Portugal, we have the following: “Franco Moniz Cerqueira, took the coat of arms of the Cerqueiras in which justified his ancestry in 1530 before Dr. Luiz Teixeira passed the Letter in 30 of March, whose justification is found in the Archivo da Caza de Alvellos de Amarante”. His coat of arms being a "Golden Rampant Lion with a collar around his neck, in a shield red”. The collared lion means loyalty (in this case to the King of Portugal) and as a way of legitimizing his place in the Portuguese nobility, even though he is of Jewish origin (New Christian). With the establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition by the Catholic Church, we find dozens of Cerqueira's condemned for the practice of Judaism. In the files of the inquisition in the Tower of Tombo de Portugal we find, for example, the processes of Helena de Cerqueira , Margarida Cerqueira , Lucrécia de Cerqueira , Bernarda de Cerqueira , Isabela da Fonseca (daughter de Brás Coelho de Cerqueira), Luís da Silva (spouse of Maria de Cerqueira) and many others, all convicted of the crime of practicing Judaism. In the book “Portuguese Inquisition” we find the list of new Christians from the Azores, among them Dias Cerqueira, a farmer. With the discovery of the Americas, many of these ventured into the “new world”. Being one of those Vicente Cerqueira who, leaving the Azores in Portugal, settled in Ilhéus in Bahia Brazil. From his relationship with Monica Fernandes, Alfredo Fernandes Cerqueira was born (1889), farmer. Notable people with the surname include: Washington Stecanela Cerqueira (Washington) Brazilian (1975) footballer Flávio Cerqueira (1985) Portuguese footballer Carolina Cerqueira Angolan politician, Minister of Social Communication Ayres Cerqueira Simao (1988) Brazilian football player Helder Diegues Cerqueira de Souza (1963) Portuguese professor of architecture José Alves de Cerqueira César (1835-1911) Brazilian politician, governor of the State of São Paulo See also Cerqueira César a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil Dionísio Cerqueira a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region of Brazil References Portuguese-language surnames