What does the last name silveira mean?

Answer 1

Silveira is a "new christian" last name, probably of Portuguese origin. New christians were people of jewish ancestry who were forcibly converted to Christianity mostly in Portugal but in Spain and France as well.

Because New Christians were also forced to emigrate, many changed their last names to the names of trees or plants. This created a way to identify new christians of jewish origin in the New World. Therefore many adopted last names like Silveira which means forest, Oliveira (meaning the Olive tree), Pereira (meaning the Pear tree), Macieira (meaning the Apple tree),Larangeiras (meaning the Orange tree).