The Estrada family in the World

When one visits several of the WWW genealogical services, it becomes clear that the Estrada who exchange mail in those services have little or no idea about the origin of their surname. Most queries placed by interested parties go unanswered, but some do get the desired information and establish family links.

Many conjectures are made about the surname. Someone stated that the surname had Italian origin because strada means highway in that language and it had a similar sound. But as surnames, Strada is not Estrada, just as Street in English, Strasse in German or Estrade in French are not the same surnames. Estrada is also not Calle, which in Castillian Spanish means the same and is a surname in itself. The equivalent surnames in other languages are different in origin and have no genealogical relationship.

Estrada, as a word, is of latin roots. It is a Spanish as well as a Portuguese word, but as a surname, it is Spanish. The genealogical investigators have been unable to go beyond the last third of the first millenium A.D. (that's about one thousand three hundred years ago), when the place called Estrada already existed. It is from here that we start.

The place of La Estrada.

There is some confusion with a place called La Estrada, in Galicia, Spain, near Santiago de Compostela, nearer to Pontevedra and close to the frontier with Portugal.This is a nice place, but it is not the birthplace of the surname. I know, I went there before going to the Estrada place in Northern Spain. La Estrada, unlike Estrada, is on the main road maps, so it's easier to find; therefore, many Estrada have "found" the wrong place.

Something else I could detect is that there are many Estrada who have no idea of their ancestors beyond their parents, and in some cases their grandparents. Very few can go further up. This has motivated me to open this Web site so that every Estrada who may wish to, may send me his/her genealogical information (dates and places of birth, marriage and death) about their ancestors, contemporaries and descendants. All information received will be filed as parts of a jigsaw puzzle; but because of the number of generations and possible lost links, we can't make any guarantee that we'll be able to make connections. However, we can certainly try! Please note that we are not requesting private information that could be used for purposes other than pure genealogical investigation.

In this Web site we seek to involve those who carry the Estrada surname in building the family history and family tree, and we want, whenever possible, to go up into the past and discover, as precisely as possible, the history of an extensive family - not as extensive as the "Smiths", but large enough to be spread over the five continents.

It is clear that if we could go back far enough, we would reach the common ancestor, but this is a practical impossibility. However, the genealogical history of a family is enriched by investigation and the information supplied by all those interested, allowing those who try to "build the puzzle" to go back generations and to establish links in close as well as distant kinship.

If I find two pieces that, having been strangers, may fit, it will be a pleasure to have them link (if they so wish). That will be the best reward and justification for this Web site.

The information received will not be public, but it will be available to members of the "family" who may be building family trees.

You can write to me at:

eduardo_j_estrada@yahoo.com

My regular mailing address is:  P. O. Box 09-01-7648 - Guayaquil, Ecuador

To have an idea of how many Estrada there are now in the world, we can make the following calculation which, although a bit arbitrary, corresponds to a logical progression: In thirteen centuries of the history of the surname there have probably been 65 generations born, each with a multiplication factor of four, in descending order. For each descendant in each generation, we can calculate four descendants successively. Make the calculation. It will be an interesting exercise!

The author of this Web site is flattered that other Web sites have copied the information here contained and will maintain a degree of tolerance to the violation of the Copyright. However, its is proper to warn that the Copyright will be defended in cases of flagrant, ill intentioned or commercial violations. All uses must make reference to this source.