Neil is right. “Gypsy” is pejorative and goes back to saying they were from Egypt to avoid being stigmatized for their ethnicity. There is more diversity to this population that people know. read more
The Romani people are mainly called by non-Romani ethnic Brazilians as ciganos. Most of them belong to the ethnic subgroup Calés (Kale), of the Iberian peninsula. Juscelino Kubitschek, Brazilian president during 1956–1961 term, was 50% Czech Romani by his mother's bloodline; and Washington Luís, last president of the First Brazilian Republic (1926–1930 term), had Portuguese Kale ancestry. read more
Historically, in nearly every country where the Roma have lived, they have also been referred to as gypsies, a derogatory term used to describe an ethnic group that has migrated throughout the world over the course of several centuries. read more