Andrade

Andrade is a surname of Galician origin, which emerged in the 12th century as the family name of the knights and lords of the small parish of ''San Martiño de Andrade'' ( St. Martin of Andrade), in the municipality of Pontedeume. The first mention of this small territory is to be found in the documentation of the monastery of San Xoán de Caaveiro (18 km away), and belong chronologically to the 9th century. It was part of the region of ''Pruzos'', which was created as an administrative and ecclesiastical territory of Kingdom of Galicia in the sixth century by King Teodomiro (reigned 559–570) through a document written in Latin called ''Parrochiale suevum'', ''Parochiale suevorum'' or ''Theodomiri Divisio''. From the 12th century Pruzos, and therefore Andrade, were integrated into the county of Trastámara that belonged to the lineage ''Traba'', the most powerful Galician family. By this same time the family group: ''Fortúnez'', begins to unite their names Andrade as surname, since in this parish their family home was located. The knights of Andrade were faithful vassals of their lords the Counts of Trastámara throughout the middle centuries of the Middle Ages.

There is a notable Jewish branch which originated in Portugal in the 17th century as ''da Costa d'Andrade'', and soon moved into England. The surname Andrade is found predominantly in Portugal and Spain, and in countries of Latin America, Italy, Equatorial Guinea and East Timor, Goa, Philippines, and Karnataka in India. There is an important concentration of Andrade families residing in the United States, specifically, California, Massachusetts, Hawaii and Rhode Island.

The aristocratic family of Andrade

The Andrade, sometimes spelled ''Andrada'', became a powerful family in north-western Iberian peninsula during the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, during which time they held the titles of Counts of Andrade and Vilalba, amongst others, together with numerous castles, palaces, manor houses and extensive lands. The City of Ferrol and the borough of Pontedeume in particular, have always been regarded as the areas with the closest attachment to the Andrades, to the point, that Pontedeume have always been, and still is, known as ''The Borough of Andrade''.

The two Galician Regions of Ferrolterra and Terra Chá (i.e. the Province of Mondoñedo which disappeared as a province in the 1833 territorial division of Spain