- Rocha
The word Rocha literally means
boulder in Portuguese. It is also atopographical surname that is found inPortugal as "da Rocha" or simply "Rocha", literally, "one who is from/of the boulder".The first documented usage of the surname in
Portugal was from a Monsignor de la Roche who arrived inPortugal on his way to the Holy Land from possiblyFlanders during the reign ofAfonso III of Portugal and assisted in the taking ofSilves from theMoors .Afonso III of Portugal granted this gentlemen lands inTorres Novas and other locales for his services. His descendants used the Portuguese version of the word, 'da Rocha'.Another wave of the Roche family arrived from the Diocese of
Fermoy ,Ireland where they wereviscounts during the reign ofJoao I . This family helped with the Portuguese war against Castile and this gentlemen had three sons, Gomes, Louis, and Raymond. It is from D. Gomes da Rocha where the Portuguese version of the name continued onto later generations.According to the "Dicionário das Famílias Portuguesas" (Dictionary of Portuguese Families) by
D. Luiz de Lancastre e Távora , Gomes da Rocha was commandante of Pombeiro,Portugal and other monasatries in 1482 before becoming bishop ofTripoli in the middle of the XV century. Another Portuguese author, Felgueiras Gayo, states Gomes was married to a lady by the name of D. Ines de Meneses and after becoming a widow, he became commandante on Pombeiro.It is from this family that the current coat-of-arms bearing 'da Rocha' families ofPortugal are said to be descended from.Rocha is also a famous variety of
pear from Portugal -Pêra Rocha (Rocha pear").External links
* [http://www3.sympatico.ca/jfroache/addR.html Roche/Roache Family History]
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