The surname of ALLMENDINGER is a Portugese and Spanish topographic name for someone who lived near an almond tree or in an almond grove. The name was originally derived from the Spanish word ALMENDRO, and rendered in ancient documents in the Latin form AMYGDALUS. There are various places named with this word, for example in the province of Huelva. The name is also spelt ALMDEIDA, ALMENDROS and ALMENDRO. In the 8th century, Spain fell under the control of the Moors, and this influence, which lasted into the 12th century, has also left its mark on Hispanic surnames. A few names are based directly on Arabic personal names. The majority of Spanish occupational and nickname surnames, however, are based on ordinary Spanish derivatives. Portugese surnames share many of the features of Spanish surnames, in particular Arabic and Visigothic influence. A notable feature of Portugese surnames is the class of religious names referring to festivals of the church or attributes of the Virgin Mary. One respect in which Portugese names differ from those of the rest of the Iberian peninsular, is that some were adopted at a comparatively late date and honour saints who did not give rise to surnames in other languages. Portugese names typically have the ending 'eiro'. Portugese heraldry is characterized by the use of broad shields, quite often with borders. This is a practice dating back from earlier times when it was the practice for a man to enclose his arms with a border charged with single heraldic devices taken from the arms of his wife, or even sometimes with her complete arms arranged as a series of small shields. Brites de ALMEIDA (1385) was a legendary Portugese heroine, born in Alijubarrota. She is said to have been a baker; about 1385 during the war between John I and the King of Cadiz she led her towns-people against the Spanish forces attacking her village, and killed 7 of them with her baker's shovel. The incident was celebrated by Camoens in a poem. The shovel is believed to have been preserved as a relic in Alijubarrota for several generations.

Francisco de ALMEIDA (1450-1510) was the Portugese soldier and Ist Viceroy of the Portugese Indies in 1505-09 until he was superseded by Affonsio D'Albuquerque the Great. He was killed in South Africa on his voyage home in a skirmish with Hottentots at Table Bay, and buried where Capetown now stands.