Botafogo

Portuguese

Portuguese Wikipedia has an article on:

Botafogo

Wikipedia ^pt

Etymology

Etymology tree

Portuguese botar

Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-der.?

Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ-der.?

Latin focum

Old Galician-Portuguese fogo

Portuguese fogo

Portuguese bota-fogo

Portuguese Botafogo

From bota-fogo. It was initially the nickname of Portuguese galleon São João Baptista and was adopted as a surname by the main gunner João de Sousa Pereira "Botafogo". He would later buy the plot of land that gave origin to the neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, which was then named after him.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌbɔ.tɐˈfo.ɡu/

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌbɔ.tɐˈfo.ɡu/ [ˌbɔ.tɐˈfo.ɣu]
- (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌbɔ.tɐˈfo.ɡu/

Rhymes: -oɡu
Hyphenation: Bo‧ta‧fo‧go
Homophone: bota-fogo

Proper noun

Botafogo m (demonym botafoguense)

a neighborhood of Zona Sul district, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Proper noun

Botafogo m or f by sense

a surname

Usage notes

According to the 2022 Brazilian census, the surname Botafogo belonged to 170 individuals in Brazil.^[2] They are all from Rio de Janeiro.

Descendants

→ English: botafogo

References

^ Mesquita, Carlos Eduardo Braga de (2010), “Breve histórico de Botafogo”, in A dinâmica dos espaços de cultura e lazer em Botafogo [The dynamic of the spaces of culture and leisure in Botafogo] (Thesis) (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: UERJ, page 17
^ Brasil (2025), “Botafogo”, in “Nomes no Brasil [Names in Brazil]”, in Censo 2022 (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, v1.0.15

[1] Mesquita, Carlos Eduardo Braga de (2010), “Breve histórico de Botafogo”, in A dinâmica dos espaços de cultura e lazer em Botafogo [The dynamic of the spaces of culture and leisure in Botafogo] (Thesis) (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: UERJ, page 17

[2] Brasil (2025), “Botafogo”, in “Nomes no Brasil [Names in Brazil]”, in Censo 2022 (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, v1.0.15

[1]

[2]