Freitas (surname)

Freitas is a very common surname in Madeira Autonomous Region, Portugal. Its origin seems related to the 300-million-year-old 'Birthing Stones' phenomenon which occurs in remote northern Portugal, locally called {{interlanguage link|Pedra Parideira|pt}}, particularly in the village of Castanheira, nestled into the site of Freita Mountain, Arouca Geopark.{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=Esme |title=Portugal's mysterious 'birthing stones' |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220926-portugals-mysterious-birthing-stones |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en}}

According to the Dictionary of American Family Names citing Oxford University Press, it is a topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of stony ground, from Portuguese (Pedras) Freitas ‘Broken Stones’ Late Latin (Petrae) Fractae.{{Cite book |last=Hanks |first=Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vG7MZ9J6dAgC&dq=Freitas+surname&pg=PA603 |title=Dictionary of American Family Names: 3-Volume Set |date=2003-05-08 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-508137-4 |pages=603 |language=}}