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Re: Nery
Nery is a reespelling of Neri, attracted by some English names ending in -y, specially Nelly. Neri is a nickname used for several names (Nerina, Nereida, Nerea...) and it is a name in itself, coming from Saint Philip Neri. The use of Neri in principle is masculine, but in some Spanish-speaking American countries it is used as unisex name (Argentina, e.g.), first in compound names (in the case of women) as María Neri, later as independent name. This independent use in women has been attracted by the spelling of Nelly (and in some dialects, as Cuban, Neri and Nelly can sound very similar or the same).The devotion to St. Philip Neri, also because of the net of schools, is deep in some of these American countries.There is another point for the popularity of Neri (Néri in Portuguese and sometimes the name is spelled Nery even in official records, as hospitals names): the first Brazilian nurse Ana Néri. She is the Brazilian (and some surrounding countries) equivalent of Florence Nightingale and she is very popular among Latin American women-rights fighters. The combination "Ana Neri", "Ana Néri" or "Ana Nery" seems to be more or less popular.Lumia
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Nery/ Neri means "my candle" there is actually a name Neria/ Neriya meaning Gods candle
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In which language?
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in hebrew
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But the Hebrew is not the origin of the surname Neri and its use among Catholic people.
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This is all fascinating!In the case of St. Philip Neri, Neri is an Italian surname, which is a variation of Negri, meaning "black".Do you know the derivation of Ana Neri's surname? Was she also of Italian ancestry?
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The surname was her husband's surname (she was named Ana Justina Ferreira). I didn't find the genealogy of Néri family at Brazil, but it seems a no-unusual surname; since there was a big migration of Italians in South America (specially Arentina and Uruguay) it is not odd at all that Isidoro Antônio Néri (her husband) was of Italian ancestry. But I really can't assure that.
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