Personal Names in the Roman World By Clive Cheesman

"Santa Maria della Neve" - 1760

 Sometimes tracing your family back requires you to look at Parish records - especially if the town you are researching was not microfilmed by the LDS or if you are researching the period prior to the Unification of Italy.  Prior to the Unification, Civil Registration was not required so often the only records available are these.  The problem with these records is that not only are they harder to access but the information contained in them is often written in Latin.

This was because dialects were mostly spoken in the towns and the Italian language as we know it did not really exist.  In spite of this,  we noticed that often Latin names also had minor variations in spelling from Church to Church.  Some names are easier to recognize than others such as IJosephina -Josephine and Philippus-Philip. 

The image on the left is taken from the Cosenza Exchange and the record is copied from Santa Maria della Neve from the frazione of Santa Maria La Castagna in Montalto Uffugo.

 More interesting Latin Surname sites:

•  Latin Forms of English Surnames in Great Britain and Ireland.

• Male Latin Names, Roman Names

Finally, after several months of falling behind I have, as of yesterday evening,  added over 300 new surnames and contacts to the Database. As I mentioned earlier we are still in the process of changing the way names are to be submitted so keep a look out for the new contact form.  I will be asking for feedback on which way you prefer more.

King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

While watching the English - Canadian TV series, the Tudors  the other night I started  thinking about the Italian Monarchy and Royal Surnames of Italy and found some interesting sites detailing the lives of the Italian Royal Family.

Allan Raymonds Monarchies of Europe website gives a detailed time line of the Royal Italian Families which include descendants of Queen Victoria.  There's some wonderful information on the families including links to King Victor Emmanuel II who belonged to the House of Savoy-Carignano, obituary.

Victor Emmanuel II was born Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso, eldest son of Charles Albert of Sardinia and Maria Theresa of Austria on 14 March 1820 in Torino, Piemonte, Italy and died 9 January 1878 in Rome Lazio Italy. From 1849 to 1861, he was King of  of Piedmont, Savoy, and Sardinia and on 17 March 1861 he assumed King of Italy to become the first king of a united Italy, a title he held until his death in 1878.

Sources:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Emmanuel_II , http://www.djhooker.com/48/22874.htm,

With the holiday season upon us I thought it would be nice to talk about some holiday inspired names.  Some names that come to mind are Natale (Christmas) Grazia (Grace) and Bifano (Epiphany).  All have been used as first or surnames.

A quick search on Searching the Enhanced Ellis Island Database in One Step using Natale with no variation returns over 2300 persons with the surname arrived through Ellis Island between 1892-1924.  By removing the letter e from the end of the name and searching again, the returns are over 3400.  By doing a search using it as a first name, which does yield some variations, almost 15,000 hits are returned!
Using Gens-Italia, we find the surname is present in over 956 towns with the highest concentration in the regions of Campania and Lombardy.  And of course, if we use the Italian White Pages Pagine Bianche to search the surname, we find that 3317 people are listed.

Let's try the same thing with Grazia. Doing a quick search on Grazia, again with no variation, we find that 3282 immigrants with the surname entered through the New York port.  Gens Italia returns the name is still present in 158 towns with the highest concentration in Emilia Romagna while there are only 423 persons listed in the Italian White pages.

The less popular Bifano still returns 119 hits on Ellis Island, found in 72 towns in Italy and 158 hits on the Italian White Pages.

As a side note - while extracting records from various towns in Reggio Calabria, I often noticed that the first names Natale and  Natalina were given to persons born either near or on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.  I also found that these births, and many births which took place in late December were not registered until January the following year so my advice is that if you are looking for someone named Natale and are having difficulty locating a birth record, try looking in the months of December and January.  
Name Meaning and History
Bifano

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Grazia
Italian form of Grace.

This post is dedicated to my good friend "Biff" and his family who I now consider a part of my very special Gente family.  God Bless and Happy Holidays.

It's been a very long three months.  After Carole's death things just sort of spiraled out of control which has left me a bit backlogged with work.  Yesterday I spent almost 19 hours just going through all my emails and formatting the more than 200 names to be entered into the database.  Spelling errors, missing information and follow up emails were all part of the process.  Now that it's all copied over I need to merge them into the database.
Perhaps one of the single most difficult thing about this database is that it's all created by html.  I chose to have people send me the info to help eliminate the spam that is definitely associated with almost every website.  Also, I wanted to be able to correct and fill in missing information and make it so the contact links are *not* click able.  This will prevent spam programs from using the mail to link to send unwanted mail.
Having said that, I think it may be time for a change.
After conversations with a friend who specializes in web program and development, I decided it may be time to make the database interactive.  People will be able to input their own data - but of course I will still be able to *weed out* the undesirable.  There will no longer be an option for people to send me their genealogy questions.  I would love to help everyone but the truth is I am not a professional genealogist.  I have a full time job and a house and family to look after.  This a a hobby for me and I don't have the time or money to be able to actually answer everyone's questions.
I just want to remind everyone that if they do have a genealogy related question they can post it on the Gente Genealogy Forum that we have.  There are hundreds of members on Gente from all over the world that would love to help - and it really lightens my load quite a bit.  If you have a chance check it out.  You may find it useful.

Gens-Italia  is an excellent site to use to see the distribution of your surname in Italy.  Some of you might remember it as the site Susan Sarandon used in the April 2010 episode of Who do You Think You Are? to help her get started on researching her roots. While I know I have written briefly about this site before I think it important to revisit and find out what else it can do for you.

To get started, you simply enter your surname in the search bar labeled Cognome: in the top left hand corner and click the arrow or hit enter. 


Now if you have a common surname such as Rossi then it probably won't help you much as the map is almost completely covered by circles meaning the name is extremely popular throughout all of Italy and found in 4541 towns. Now if you have a not so common surname such as Baldovini you will see that it is primarily found in Central Italy and in only 16 towns or villages. By clicking on the circles you will get a close up map of the region the name is found in and with the help of Google Maps you might even be able to zero in on the specific towns.


You can also search for your name in the USA using the Gen-US Surname Map which can be really useful if you're trying to determine not only where your ancestors originally emigrated from but to where those with the surname are currently living.  Once again using Baldovini we see that there are currently only three states which the name is prevalent in which make up about 10 persons.  But, if we translate the name to Baldwin, the American equivalent to Baldovini,  it now becomes a totally different ball game with the name being distributed fairly evenly in almost every US state and which represent hundreds of people.

From Wikipedia..

A large number of Italian surnames end in i, due to the medieval Italian habit of identifying families by the name of the ancestors in the plural (which have an -i suffix in Italian). For instance, Filippo from the Ormanno family (gli Ormanni) would be called "signore Filippo degli Ormanni" ("Mr. Filippo of the Ormannos"). In time, the middle possessive portion ("of the") was dropped, but surnames became permanently pluralized and never referred to in the singular, even for a single person. Filippo Ormanno would therefore be known as Filippo Ormanni.[5] Some families, however, opted to retain the possessive portion of their surnames, for instance Lorenzo de' Medici literally means "Lorenzo of the Medici" (de' is a contraction of dei, also meaning "of the"; c.f. The Medicis).

Some common suffixes indicate endearment (which may also become pluralized and receive an -i ending), for example:

• -ello/illo/etto/ino (diminutive "little"), e.g., Bernardino, Bernardello
• -one (augmentative "big"), e.g., Mangione
• -accio/azzo/asso (pejorative[6]), e.g., Boccaccio

Other endings are characteristic of certain regions:[2]

• Veneto: -asso, -ato and consonants (l, n, r): Bissacco, Zoccarato, Cavinato, Brombal, Francescon, Meneghin, Perin, Peron, Vazzoler
• Sicily: -aro, -isi and "osso": Cavallaro, Puglisi, Rosso (Sicily and Veneto)
• Lombardy: -ago/ghi and -ate/ati: Salmoiraghi, Bonati
• Friuli: -otti/utti and -t: Bortolotti, Pascutti, Codutti, Rigonat
• Tuscany: -ai and -aci/ecci/ucci: Bollai, Balducci
• Sardinia: -u, -as and -is: Pusceddu, Schirru, Marras, Argiolas, Floris, Melis, Abis
• Piedmont: -ero, -audi, -asco,-zzi: Ferrero, Rambaudi, Comaco, Bonazzi
• Calabria: -ace: Storace
• Campania: -iello: Borriello

Side note Accuracy of article - all information on this article is sourced. It is worth looking through the sources for additional information.

The Albanian people began to settle in Italy (in particular Sicily and Calabria) about 1400 AD and arrived as a sort of military mercenary to the country. In return for their help they were given land grants and allowed to permanently take up residence in the country. They formed communities and integrated well within the land and were often referred to as Greci or Greeks. They currently live in about 49 mountain towns and villages from the Abruzzi Appenines to the south of Italy and Sicily.

Arbëresh Villages in Sicily:

• Biancavilla  - Catania
• Bronte - Catania
• Contessa Entellina - Palermo
• Mezzojuso- Palermo
• Palazzo Adriano - Palermo
• Piana degli Abanesi (Piana dei Greci - prior to 1940) - Palermo
• Sant’Angelo Muxaro - Agrigento
• San Michele di Ganzaria - Catania
• Santa Cristina Gela- Palermo

For a list of some known names and more about the history of Albanians in Sicily, see the article at Sicilian Arbëresh Surnames.

Calabrian Arbëresh Villages in Cosenza:

• Acquaformosa
  
• Castroregio
  
• Cavallerizzo
  
• Cervicati
  
• Civita
  
• Eian
  
• Falconara
  
• Firmo
  
• Frascineto
  
• Lungro
  
• Macchia
  
• Montegrassano
  
• Plataci
  
• Rota Greca
  
• S. Basile
  
• S. Bernedetto
  
• S. Caterina
  
• S. Cosmo
  
• S. Demetrio
  
• S. Giorgio
  
• S. Lorenzo
  
• S. Marco
  
• S. Martino
  
• S. Sofia
  
• Spezzano
  
• Vaccarizzo
  

Calabrian Arbëresh Villages in Catanzaro:

• Amato
  
• Andali
  
• Arietta
  
• Caraffa
  
• Carfizzi
  
• Gizzeria
  
• Marcedusa
  
• Pallagorio
  
• S. Nicola
  
• Vena
  
• Zagarise
  
• Zangarona
  

For a list of some known names and more about the history of Albanians in Calabria, see the article at Calabrian Arbëresh Surnames.

Beware of emails inquiring about the death of an ancestor or relative in a foreign country signed by a lawyer, or "esq".  The author is interested in gaining personal information or validating your email and ISP.  The letter looks something like this:

Hope Chambers
The Barn House,
38 Meadow Way
Eastcote
Ruislip
HA4 8TB
London-UK
Tel:+447035978683

Hello (Surname is inputted here),
I am David Homes, from Hope Chambers, London-UK. Please this is just an inquiry.
I am trying to find out if you are by any chance related to Late Mr. Guissepe Agostino who died in March 2008 in UK.
I believe he is originally from Italy. But was based in UK.
Do get back to me urgently.

Yours in service,

David Homes Esq.

Should you receive one (or several of these emails) please do NOT respond. This is just one of several email scams that circulate annually - Real inquires from Barristers or Solicitors offices would be sent to your home address by registered mail and never by email.

This site will give you the Distribution of Surnames in Buenos Aires City . The information is taken from a 2001 voter list and you will notice that many of the surnames have either Italian or Spanish origin.


Regretfully the other links on the left side of the page don't seem to be working but it's still an interesting site to browse through.

The Anglicization of Italian Surnames in the United States
Joseph G. Fucilla 
American Speech
Vol. 18, No. 1 (Feb., 1943), pp. 26-32
(article consists of 7 pages)
Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/487264

I found this interesting article on the Anglicization of Italian Surnames in the United States by Joseph G. Fucilla of Northwestern University. The full article is available for purchase by the publisher for $15.00.

If you order or have read the full article please stop back here and let us know your thoughts on it.

 While I know this blog is about surnames, I would like to stop a minute and talk about first names and Italian naming patterns. It's a subject I find that rarely gets old and can be useful while researching.

Ok, so we have all heard about the *traditional* Italian naming pattern of the first born male is named after the paternal grandfather, the first born female after the paternal grandmother, the second born male after the maternal grandfather and the second born female after the maternal grandmother. While this is a fairly recent tradition (in my opinion of course) I found that in many families this is not how it worked until the more recent records of the early to mid 1900's.

This was especially true on my paternal side where the opposite naming patterns applied.  The first born male was actually named after the maternal grandfather, the first born female after the maternal grandmother, etc.  I found this pattern began early in the civil records and continued to my father's generation.  Only recently, has the more recognized pattern been followed which I find interesting.  This pattern would break of course if a child passed away and another child born shortly after in which case the name would be *recycled*. Sometimes the middle name, if given would be changed to differentiate between the two children and sometimes the name would remain the same.  And of course, lets not forget that very often the name Maria precedes many female names - Maria Rosa, Maria Antonia, Maria Concetta, etc.   My family named each one of their female children this way.

So if you are having trouble finding a lost relative try switching the names around and see if anything new turns up.  I managed to find more than one ancestor this way.

A must have book when doing Italian research is Tradford Cole's Italian Genealogical Records. Chapter 3 has some wonderful information about Italian Surnames and how they came to be.

Interestingly enough is that although there appears to be hundred's of thousand's of Italian Surnames, when you break them all down, they are all derived from some pretty simple root names. Endings are added to the root word to describe the individual, a trait, a characteristic, residence or a family line.

While I always thought that my surname Angilletta may have meant little Angel, I am now beginning to wonder if perhaps it really means "of the family of little Angelo". I would need to trace my family much farther back than I have to prove this but it's still interesting to to know the possibility exists.

Have a look through the book and then try to break your surname down to the root. Perhaps you will find something new that could help you with your research. And don't forget to come back and post here if you do find something interesting.

Sorry I have been away for so long but with Carole's passing and the updating of records I have been a bit (okay, well a lot) behind in everything. The good news is that I have been adding names into the database and I should hopefully be caught up soon.

I have also been updating the Links portion of the Calabria Exchange to include references to other than Calabria. Recently added pages include Sicily, South American & Spanish, and Lazio resource links. I encourage you to have a look and please tell me what you think of it. If there are any links you wish to add, please contact me.

As always, I have been busy answering as many emails as I can and organizing my personal files. My office is starting to look like a storage for paper and books which is not very comfortable to work from so my goal for this month is to organize and update the sites and my work space.

From the wonderful website Origini dei Cognomi Italiani :

*Assumptions provided by Alexis Bruno Bedini
   
Surname exclusively in the area Locri (RC) - Gerace (RC) with a high incidence in the city of Ardore (RC).
The data in my possession is a noble family originally from Locri (RC).  Etymologically speaking in the dialect Reggio "Chirico" is the top of something.
*Assumptions provided by Stefano Ferrazzi

The origin of surnames and Chiricosta Ciricosta in fact be found in the Greek dialects of the south, where the expression Chiri / CIRI Costa (from the greek kyrie Costas) literally means Mr. Costa (as in surnames such Serantoni, Sergianni, Sernicola, etc.): French, in fact, is a greek name of tradition and beyond Greece itself (which is still in use as a personal name), it seems that at one time enjoyed a reputation in our country ( for more explanation on the name, see French surname). 
 As for names in question, then, is the cognominizzazioni personal names of the founders.


And for a list of Chiricosta Births from Ardore please visit The Calabria Exchange - Ardore

Carole Wendy Whiddett Bienati

 The surname database will temporarily not be updating while we mourn the passing of our good friend and Co-founder of Gente di Mare and Author of the Alpine Settler Blog and Journal. Carole W. Bienati who died suddenly and peacefully in her home on 16 August 2010. 
Carole will be forever in our minds and in our hearts as she touched the lives of many. We will miss her.

 A wonderful article post by my friend at Geneal Italia that I had to share.

http://genealitalia.blogspot.com/2010/08/genealogy-treasure-trove-translating.html

Judy, who is researching the comune of Caulonia, Reggio Calabria Italy has submitted these surnames.  Feel free to leave a comment here for Judy if you can help her out at all with any information .

Acquaniti
Adami
Adamo
Agostina
Ajossa
Alba
Albanese(i)
Ali
Aloi
Alvaro
Alvino
Ambrosini
Ameduri
Ammendotia
Angilletta
Arcadi
Arcorace
Arena
Argiro
Aromataris
Audino

Bali
Barba
Barreca
Basile
Baudelle
Baudille
Bava
Beata
Belcastro
Bellino
Bellucci
Bombardiere
Bombardieri
Bonaventura
Borgese
Buongiorno

Cagliuso
Calemme
Calipari
Callarico
Calotta
Calvi
Camelia
Cameriere
Campanella
Campisi
Candido
Candiloro
Capece
Cappelara
Carbonara
Caristo
Carni
Carrocci
Cataldo
Cartisano
Cavallaro
Cavallo
Chiera
Chiodo
Chitti
Ciccarello
Cimino
Cipriana
Circosta
Cirillo
Colloridi
Comito
Commisso
Concuvia
Coniglio
Corsaro
Cortese
Costa
Cotrona
Cricelli
Crisafi
Crispino
Cuccio
Cursaro
Cuteri

D’Agostino
D’Aloi
D’Amato
D’Arco
Daniele
Davoli
Deblasio
Deciccia
Delorenzis
Deluca
Delvecchio
Demarco
Demasi
Dichiera
Dileo
Dimasi
Divino
Dominelli

Elevato

Falcone
Falotta
Fameli
Fanto
Fazio
Fazzari
Fazzalari
Fazzolari
Ferreri
Finis
Fiorenza
Fiorino
Firmin
Focci
Foti
Fragomeli
Fragomeni
Frajia
Frammartino
Francese
Francavilla
Franco
Franzi
Fraula

Gagliardi
Gallo
Garuccio
Gasperini
Genovese
Gentile
Gerace
Geracitano
Gerecitano
Giannone
Giglia
Graziani
Grigora
Grupido
Guarnesi

Hyerace

Idone
Ienco/Jenco
Ierace/Jerace
Infusini

Jacopetta

Labate
Lagana
Lamberto
Lanzetta
Larosa
Leopoldi
Lipari
Lobianco
Loccisano
Lopresti
Lopresto
Lucano
Lupis

Macri
Magnoli
Maiolo
Mammone
Manno
Mazza
Mazzaferro
Mercuri
Michelizzi
Midigliano
Mirabelli
Mirigliano
Montagnese
Morabito
Morelli
Mordocco
Mosca
Muia
Murdocco
Murdolo

Napoli
Napolitano
Nesci
Niutta
Novembrina
Nubino
Nuceforo
Nuciforo

Olivella
Oppedisano
Orobello
Ottobrino

Pachi
Panaja
Panetta
Pannia
Papaleo
Paparo
Papazzo
Parisi
Pavone
Pelligrina
Pensabene
Pepi
Petrolo
Pezzaniti
Piscioneri
Pisto
Placanica
Ponziano
Portaro
Prestininzi
Procopio
Puccio
Puglia
Pulicano
Puticano

Quaraesima

Racco
Raimondo
Raschella
Ricorda
Rinaldo
Ritorto
Roccisano
Romano
Romeo
Rossino
Rubino
Rullo
Ruva

Salerno
Sangiovanni
Santarelli
Scali
Schianto
Scicchitano
Scrivo
Scuteri
Sergio
Severino
Sghirripa
Sigismondo
Silanno
Simone
Simonetta
Sorace
Spano
Squillace
Squillacioli
Strangio

Talotta
Taranto
Tarzia
Tassone
Timpano
Tipaldo
Torello
Tornese

Umbaca
Ursini
Ursino

Vallelonga
Varano
Veneranda
Ventrice
Viera
Vigliarolo
Vitali
Volugise
Vozzo

Zalfino
Zappia

This amazing site has an index to all the surnames present in the Comune di San Marco Argentano, Cosenza that were present in the 19th century.  The author has researched using the registers located in the Italian Archives.  He has included births starting from 1809 and marriages from 1811.

Keep in mind that these surnames may not necessarily have originated in San Marco Argentano as he has included any name that he found a reference too in the registers.

Italian (Calabria): habitational name from Rovito in Cosenza province, so named from Latin rubetum ‘thornbush’, ‘briar’, ‘bramble’.
GIVEN NAMES: Italian 11%; Spanish 6%. Gennaro (2), Mario, Nazzareno, Rafael; Carlos, Diego, Francisco, Mariela.

*Source url:   http://www.answers.com/topic/rovito-1

It's been a long month. Over a hundred surnames have been submitted for entry into the Italian Surname Database.  The most difficult part of updating the site is missing information and formatting the data.  I do this all manually since I chose not to use any flashy programs that might slow down the site.

If you would like to submit a surname you can help me by following the steps below.

First go to the Contact  link on the site. You will see a Submit form.  Enter your name. Some people choose to use their surname as the name but I believe it's more effective to use a first name but it's not necessary. 
Next provide a valid email address where a person can contact you.  Valid emails are required.
Next, provide your surname and the town, province and region in Italy your ancestor is from.  If you know the town but not the province or region a simple search using your favourite search engine will help and will also ensure you have spelled it correctly.  I spend approximately two hours a month looking this information and correcting spelling for submitters which delays my updating the site.  I also receive emails from people that say their ancestors were from somewhere around the Southern Region of Italy or around Naples.  I can not determine where your ancestors are from.
Once entered submit the info and you should receive a Thank You message letting you know I have received your request or an Error message if something has gone wrong. There is no need to send another email unless you notice I have updated the site since you sent your request and your surname has not been added.

Please do not use all lowercase or all uppercase letters in your submission.  If you do, then I will have to reformat the information all over again.

Your submission should look like this:

Angilletta
Ardore
Reggio Calabria
Calabria
Nuccia
youremail @ gmail.com

and NOT like this:

ANGILLETTA, Domenic,  ardore, from somewhere in the south of Italy.

There is no need to add anything else.  This database can not answer genealogy related questions and no one sees the additional information except for me.  If you do need help locating an ancestor then please join Gente di Mare Italian Genealogy Forum and we will do our best to assist you.  I also get several emails in Spanish and French.  The members on the forum are from all over the world and will be happy to answer those questions and you can post them in your language of choice.  I unfortunately can not.

Thanks and have a Happy Canada Day and a Happy Fourth of July!

Morabito
Last name origin & meaning:
Italian (Sicily): nickname for a teetotaler, Sicilian murabbitu, from Arabic murābịt ‘hermit’, ‘ascetic’.


According to the Genealogy Family Education website, this surname is actually a derivative of the Arabic surname of Murabit meaning hermit. Facebook has a whole group devoted to this surname - Morabito.. more tha a name, a way of life.  with over 170 members and open content.

While searching the Ellis Island Website using my favourite search engine One Step Pages by Stephen Morse
and using various spellings, I discovered the surname is most common in parts of Sicily and Reggio Calabria.

According to the RES website, the surname appears in 79 out of 380 towns in Calabria.

A great resource for looking up Italian surnames and locating people in Italy is to use the on line Pagine Bianche (White Pages).  This telephone directory also links to the Pagine Gialle or the Yellow Pages so you can locate businesses.

There are a few ways to use the site. The first is to click on ricerca, then plug in the surname and or address in chi/cosa and the comune(town, city or province) name in dove if known. Another way to use the site is to click on ricercha speciale and use it to do a reverse look up if you know a phone number but don't know who it's registered too.

No matter how you choose to use the site it's definitely worth checking out.

This article, written in Dec 2007 By Philip Pullella caught my attention this morning and I wanted to share it.

(Reuters) - An Italian court has ruled that a couple could not name their son "Friday" and ordered that he instead be called Gregory after the saint whose feast day he was born on.
"I think it is ridiculous they even opened a case about it," the family's lawyer, Paola Rossi, told Reuters by telephone from the northern city of Genoa on Tuesday.
Friday/Gregory Germano was born in Genoa 15 months ago. The parents registered him as Friday in the city hall and a priest even baptised him as Friday -- unusual in Italy since many priests insist that first names be of Christian origin.
"We named him Friday because we like the sound of the name. Even if it would have been a girl, we would have named her Friday," the boy's mother, Mara Germano, told Reuters.
When the boy was about five months old, a city hall clerk brought the odd name to the attention of a tribunal, which informed the couple of an administrative norm which bars parents from giving "ridiculous or shameful" first names to children.
The tribunal said it was protecting the child from being the butt of jokes and added that it believed the name would hinder him from developing "serene interpersonal relationships".
The Germano family appealed but lost their case this month and the story was carried on the front page of a national newspaper on Tuesday.
When ordered to change the name, the parents refused and the court ruled the boy would be legally registered as Gregory because he was born on that saint's feast day.
"I really doubt this would have happened to the child of parents who are rich and famous," the boy's mother told Reuters, recalling that some famous Italians had given their children unorthodox names such as "Ocean" or "Chanel".
The appeals court ruled against Friday because it recalled the servile savage in Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe and because superstitious Italians consider Friday an unlucky day.
"I am livid about this," the boy's mother said. "A court should not waste its time with things like this when there is so much more to worry about."
"My son was born Friday, baptised Friday, will call himself Friday, we will call him Friday but when he gets older he will have to sign his name Gregory," she said.

You can view the original article here.

Our Italian Surnames - By Joseph Guerin Fucilla is available on Google Books.  The section from which I linked it to entitled The Evolution of Italian Surnames concentrates primarily on Northern Italian Surnames.  There are over 7500 surnames and sources listed throughout the 299 page book which makes it an interesting and most comprehensive read.

Book Review

You can read the Google book review available for more information.

The book was originally written in the late 1940's and is available on Amazon.com as well as Chapters.Indigo

Behind the Name is a wonderful site which lists several hundred surnames and their meanings.  It also may tell your where the surname is derived from. 
The beauty of this site is that it not only concentrates on Italian surnames but on surnames from several different parts of the world such as Germany, Spain, Greece and Ireland plus much more.  If you don't find your surname in one area I would encourage you spend the time exploring other areas of the site to see if your surname originated elsewhere.  You may also want to check out the section entitled The Most Common Surnames  where it lists the top 100 surnames for many countries.  Again, don't forget to use variation in spelling.

I had some problems receiving comments on the weekend since the feature was not quite working. This was caused by a recent update in the template.

I was able to locate where the missing code in the css sheet should have been and added it so it should be corrected now. I also managed to correct a few other issues and hopefully the template is now working as it was meant to work.

I appreciate those who took the time to email me and let me know about the problem.  Thanks again.

Italian surnames have changed so much in the past century.  Almost everyone I meet has a story about how their surname was changed at Ellis Island upon their ancestor's entry in to the US.  The truth of the matter is that names were not usually changed at Ellis.  Manifest lists were complied and written in the country from which the immigrant came and by someone who normally was familiar with the language of that same traveler.  So how did the names change then?
Names changed for several reason. One such reason was that the immigrant was illiterate and so they could not spell their last name. This resulted in the dropping of some double letters in surnames or in silent letters. Before 1909, passports were not usually used or needed so it was not uncommon for minor spelling errors to occur.  You may wonder about birth certificates as well but it was not normal custom for Italians to carry a copy of their birth certificates on them. In fact, rarely did any see their actual birth acts unless they were getting married in Italy and their parents were deceased and in which case they were required to show a copy of their births upon registering to get married.  Of course, many immigrants left Italy as young, single men and so had no reason to ever really see their birth records.  Not only could this cause issues with the correct spelling of a surname, but also with birth dates as often the actual day a child was born and the day a child was registered were different.
This was not the only reason a surname might change. Some changed their surnames to something that was more Anglicized to help secure work and discourage discrimination.   The process was a simple one as no legal documents were necessary.  Giovanni Rossi might become John Ross and Vincenzo Valentino might be known as James Valentine.  This name change usually only affected the person in the US.  He would still be known by his birth name on legal documents or upon traveling.
I will write more on why names changed or how they changed in upcoming posts. Meanwhile, I would be interested in hearing how your name has changed or why it changed.

For the last few years we have been extracting records from various Comuni in the province of Reggio Calabria.  We have also been linking the actual images of births, marriages and deaths whenever possible.

This of course has not been an easy task as we are currently a non profit site.  But thanks to the wonderful volunteers who have provided records and assistance who have made it much easier.

If you would like to help with this project, please contact us through here or on the Calabria Exchange.  We could use all the help we can get!

I added about 50 new surnames to the database this morning including:

• Canvil
• Fazzolari
• Fida
• Ferroggiaro
• Grizzuti
• Grizzuto
• Guido
• Iannino
• Grimani
• La Grua
• Lamentia
• La Pilusa
• Larosa
• Luisi
• Luppino

You can search the Italian Surname Database  to make connections with others who are researching your family name. Includes surnames from Argentina, Reggio Calabria, Cosenza, Venuto, Sicily and many more.

Specific surnames were most commonly given to children who were orphans, illegitimate, or foundlings such as Esposito meaning exposed or Trovato, meaning found which identified the child for life as an abandoned child.  This often caused shame and embarrassment to the child.  After the Unification in 1865, this practice was no longer allowed.

Other common foundling names include:
Benvenuto - Welcome
Conforte - Comforted
Salvati - Saved
Brutto - Ugly
Sventura- Unfortunate
Aflitto - Afflicted

According to an article in http://italian.about.com/od/italianculture/a/aa111704a.htm, written by Michael San Filippo, the top 20 surnames in Italy appear below. I have also included the meaning for each as well as alternate spellings.  Russo and Rossi seem to be the most common.



 Unfortunately, the article does not site sources which is disappointing.

One of the best articles I have read about Italian Surnames was the Life in Italy website and written by By Elizabeth Walling.  A piece extracted from the article follows below.

Delving into the research of surnames, also known as last names or family names, is an exciting way to learn more about your family history. When researching Italian surnames, you will quickly find that each family name in Italy was formed for a particular purpose. Italy has always been known for its lively and extraordinary land and people, and Italian names exhibit these same qualities.

In the age of ancient Rome, individuals were named in three parts. These parts included a basic first name, a name in which a person's family was identified, and also a unique name that described that individual. 

Read the original article...

Some of you may recognize this site as the one used by Susan Sarandon on Who Do You Think You Are which aired April 24, 2010.  You plug in your Italian Surname and it will show you the concentration of the surname in various regions throughout Italy.  An excellent resource for beginners and seasoned researchers alike.
http://gens.labo.net/en/cognomi/