We FINALLY moved to a new location and although the site is not 100% updated it is functional.  Slowly all posts from this site will be moved over to it's new home at italiansurname.com  (don't forget to bookmark the new page) along with the actual Italian Surname Database.

While the platform may be a bit different we still promise to offer all the same content - plus much, much more - all in one place.   So please stop by and give us a look.  Let us know how we're doing and feel free to offer any suggestions on how we can make it better or what you would like to see added.  And as always, you are free to add your surname and/or genealogy websites to the database using the Contact link.

Wishing you and your family a safe and wonderful holiday season and we look forward to serving you better in 2016!

~nuccia

Some of you may have noticed some issues with this page over the last several days.  Seems a bit of odd code somehow found it's way into the CSS causing the blog to redirect to an unknown page.  It has also interfered with us receiving many emails from viewers.  The issue has since been corrected and I am working on moving the page over to a secure private server to avoid this from happening again in the future.  Til such time no further posts will be written here.

We ask for your patience and thank you for your interest to date. 

Meanwhile....

We wish you and your family a very safe and Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year 2014!

Did you know you can tell a lot about an Italian Surnames origin by it's ending?  Or that generally speaking surnames in Southern regions of Italy end in vowels but as one moves North many surnames will end in consonants?  This can possibility be attributed to the fact that Northern Italy borders have changed several times over the centuries and belonged to other European countries so surnames were "grandfathered' in.

Some examples of such surnames and the regions they can found in are:

Anzil - Fruili-Venezia Giulia
Bionaz - Valle d'Aosta
Conchin - Friuli-Venezia Giulia,  Lombardy, Piemonte
De Pellegrin - Fruili-Venezia Giulia
De Sanctis -  Abruzzo, Lazio, Lombardy
Orbel - Piemonte
Perin - Veneto, Lombardy
Rigonat - Fruili-Venezia Giulia
Schiff -  Fruili-Venezia Giulia

Other  surname endings found in Northern regions include:

Suffix		Region		Example
- otti/utti		Fruili, Lombardy		Pascutti
- otti/utti		Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Trentino		Bortolotti
-aci/ecci/ucci		Tuscany		Ghelarducci
-ai		Lombardy, Tuscany		Mungai
-u, -as and -is		Sardinia		Piccinnu, Marras, Floris, Melis

**Sources**

1. Italian Surname Database - accessed 6 Jul 2013

2. Gens-Italia - accessed 6 Jul 2013

3. Webpages by  Stephen P. Morse , San Francisco - accessed 6 July 2013

4. Wikipedia  - accessed 6 Jul 2013
  

MARTINELLI is  a surname of Roman origins which has been derived from the Latin name Martinus [derivative of Mars - Roman God of War and Fertility].  It is a  patronymic surname meaning "son of Martin". The surname and it's variations can be traced back to several countries in Europe for hundreds of centuries. 

Variations and Diminutives

Czech:  Martinovsky 
English: Martin
French:  Martineau
Italian: Martinelli, Martinolli, Martini, Martino, DiMartini, and DiMartino. 
Polish:  Marcinkowski, Marciszewski
Portuguese:  Martins
Romanian:  Martinescu.
Spanish:  Martínez, San Martin, Martín
Sweedish:  Martenssen

GenBlog: Friday Finds – 02/15/13

Here's a list of some Italian Surnames of Greek origins found primarily in Southern Italy:

• Accorinti 
• Alampi 
• Alampo 
• Alessandrini 
• Arcidiaco 
• Arconti 
• Arcuri 
• Basile 
• Biasi 
• Bova 
• Calogero 
• Cardea 
• Cipri 
• Colella 
• Coletta 
• Cutroneo 
• Delfino 
• DeMitri 
• Eliseo 
• Erasmo
• Fallace 
• Fanara 
• Greca 
• Grechi 
• Greco 
• Iannopollo 
• Mandica 
• Maniaci 
• Megale 
• Megali 
• Narciso 
• Narisi 
• Nasso 
• Nasta 
• Nasti 
• Natola 
• Nibali 
• Nicolosi 
• Nicosia 
• Orfeo 
• Orione 
• Pellicoro 
• Rina 
• Rino 
• Romeo 
• Sallustro 
• Salustri 
• Samela 
• Serio 
• Sodero 
• Squillaci 
• Staltari 
• Stalteri 
• Stefanizzi 
• Tigano 
• Tripodi 
• Triscari 
• Versace 
• Vitale 
• Zuccalà 

 Additionally any name ending in -ace or -aci is more than likely the equivalent to some Greek name ending in -akis. For further info you can visit: Greeks in Italy

The Italian Surname Database  updated today.  Another 100 names have been added or modified.  And don't forget to check out a success story on  Kerri's  blog about how she met a relative she never knew about which started with a Google search and the Italian Surname Database!

We also  hit a milestone this month with over 400 likes on the Italian Surname Database Facebook page. Lot's of interesting posts being added so if you haven't already been you should check us out.  You never know who you might meet.

Happy Searching!

A new search feature has been added to the Italian Surname Database  (thanks to Stephen P Morse's One-Step Search Tool Generator )which offers more flexibility as you can now search not only by surname but by town, province or region.  I don't expect there to be any major bugs with the feature but I am still tweaking it so should you find something not quite right please let me know. 

A widget has also been added to the sidebar so you can now view updated posts to this blog right from the website.  As always, I continue to look forward to any comments, suggestions or feedback about this new look and what can be done to improve it further.

Enjoy!

 Leave it to Nick Gombash of Hungary Exchange to trace Lady Gaga's roots - especially since she has both Sicilian & German roots!  Lady Gaga was born Stefani Germanotta and whose parents both shared Italian ancestry.  

Lady Gaga's paternal grandfather was Joseph Anthony Germanotta. He was born to Italian immigrants from Naso, Messina, Sicily..

I could say more but I'll let Nick tell you.  To read more visit Nick Gombash's Genealogy Blog -  which by the way was voted by Family Tree Magazine as one of the top 40 Blogs in 2012.  His post titled The Family Tree of Lady Gaga  includes a detailed family tree chart of Gaga's ancestry.

 While this family is from Malta they seem to have roots in Sicily so worth taken a look at.   Some very interesting genealogies  posted dating back to the 1300's which are linked to several noble families such as Gatto, Aragona, and Ragusa to name a few.

 The Noble Family of Solimella, who held in fief the garden of Gomerino (pre-1318), also acknowledged as Milite in a letters patent relative to the Captaincy of Malta.  This family is listed as a noble family in “Descrittione di Malta” (1647)....

read more »

Source:  Maltagenealogy

If you have Waldensian roots then you might want to check out the website at Finding Your Waldensian Ancestor.  Looks like the author(s) did quite a bit of research on the subject as the site is very nicely laid out and is user friendly.  There are several areas to explore which include an introduction to the non profit group Piedmont Families Organization, a brief historical sketch of the Waldensian's, reading list and family researchers.

They have compiled a list of known  Italian/Waldensian surnames based  on the book by Osvaldo Coisson, I Nomi di Famiglia delle Valli Valdesi  - some of which surprised me.  You may also submit Waldensian surnames if yours is not already listed.  Lots of good information.  Worth a read.

This wonderfully informative site is an excellent starting point to researching your Jewish/Italian ancestry.  You'll find everything from DNA information to former surnames of Jews by provinces such as Rome, Venice and Sicily. There are also plenty of resource links to explore.  Definitely worth checking it out!

From Italian Family History:

Italy has a very important role in Jewish history and genealogy: it is located centrally on the Mediterranean sea and serves as an important crossroad and an intersection between North and South, East and West, Sephardic and Ashkenazi culture.

If your ancestors lived in or came from Europe, there are many possibilities that a branch of your family went through Italy.

read more from this site » »

New names added to the Italian Surname Database 4 Nov 2012.

Surnames include:

Amato
Arpacci
Chitè
Ciscione
Clementi
Critelli
Cipparrone
Cumbo
Fantozzi
Fatheryar
Grupposo
Mandala
Mezzanares
Olivieri
Palermo
Rosini
Tombsiano
Quarttrucci
Zarola

Plus many, many more.  To add your surnames visit the Feedback page.  Submissions should look like this:

Surname
Town
Province
Region
Your Name
Your Email

No other information is needed.

Thought this article shared by Bill West of West in New England on Facebook this morning about most popular baby names over the last century was kinda of fun.  It's interesting to note that in 1911 the two most popular first names in the U.S. were John and Mary.  In the records I've extracted to date on the Calabria Exchange the two most popular Italian fist names for many of the years were Giuseppe and Maria. 
To read the full article see:

Most popular baby names, 2011 vs. 1911: ‘William’ stands the test of time

As most of you know I love researching almost anything but most specifically anything to do with Italian Surnames. Unfortunately researching anything takes time and money - neither of which comes easy these days to the average person like me and more than likely you. Researching is a hobby for me. When I look for something I really, really look and try to use several sources to support my findings. I am by no means an expert so it is the only way to actually do this correctly. Sometimes researching a name can take hours, weeks or months so you can imagine how time consuming this can be - and how costly.

 Having said all that I'll get to the point. Each day I receive several dozen emails from people asking me if I know the meaning of their surname. That's all. There is usually no other information. It's gotten to the point I can't even reply to these emails without using a standard reply and half the time my replies come back undeliverable. These are the times I am grateful I don't look for meanings as there would be no way to reply other than to post it on my website which is additional work to code the information. The truth is I have a full time job, and a family. I don't have the resources or the time to answer/research all these requests (I really wish I did but I don't). Life gets in the way - bills need to be paid, laundry needs to be done and dinners need to be cooked. Donations to the site are welcomed and do allow me to help some people.  The money literally helps pay only for materials to conduct the research and to partially maintain the sites.

So please, if you are going to request my help please be considerate. Give me something to work with. Tell me where your family comes from, provide a correct email where I can contact you (only I see your email address and I do not send out spam at any time - all communication is posted here or on the site) and perhaps offer something to help with the costs. Travel, bandwidth, paper, wear and tear on my PC (which I finally replaced after months of doing without), etc. all adds up. And then give me time.

Ok, so not all Italians have 'common' surnames - or do they? Italian names in general can be tricky. Usually both first and last names are common as we can see by the two most common first names Giuseppe and Maria. So how can we overcome this problem and guarantee we have the right ancestor we are searching for? The following article written by Juliana Smith can answer some of those questions.


From the Ancestry Learning Center - Juliana Smith writes Searching for Common Surnames a step by step 'how to ' guide using a profile type method and summary system to help you make an educated guess on which ancestor is the ancestor you are looking for.

*Note: I While this article uses North American common names as examples the same principles can be applied to searching for any Italian surname.

A reader wrote asking about the surname Molinelli.  It appears that all Molinelli listed on the ship manifests I looked at that went through Ellis Island were from Bertone. There didn't seem to be any others from that area in Pavia so I continued to look at found a discussion about this very thing on the Italian Genealogy Forum.

The surname itself implies windmill (Mulinello) and windmills are found all over the area.  For anyone interested I would have a look at the the discussion board over at Italian Genealogy and look thorugh the ship records at Steve Morse's Site.

*Sources used: Google, One Step Pages by Steve Morse

Over 100 new names added this month to the Italian Surname Database .

MyHeritage.com has developed a free - an interesting search feature built specifically for genealogy is which is capable of searching hundreds of databases in one query.  Similar to the Ellis Island search query, it gives you variations of what your surname *could* be spelled as which allows you to search using a particular variation.  My surname yielded 30 possibilities which I printed off and inserted into my research binder as a reference guide.


From their site:

"MyHeritage.com Research is a search engine built specifically for genealogy, capable of searching hundreds of major genealogy databases in a single query. It's the most comprehensive genealogy research tool existent today and the first of its kind. In simple terms, this search engine runs each query simultaneously in hundreds of genealogy databases, aggregates the results and displays them in one consolidated report. This gives you more genealogy search power than has ever been available before, in a simple, friendly and convenient interface."

For more on this or to use the feature, visit their pages at: MyHeritage Genealogy.

Finally the Italian Surname Database is back up and running. You will notice a slightly different look and a anti spam feature on the feedback form.  Unfortunately during the upgrade there is a slight possibility that some of the data was lost or corrupted.  Please check the information for your surnames and contact info and send me any corrections so I can add information and make any necessary corrections.  Once again I ask that you please do not send any genealogy related questions through this form as it is only a feedback form and nothing more.  Direct all other questions to the Gente forum and we will gladly try to help you through there.
The format needed to submit names to the database is simply:

Sonsotta
Rovito
Cosenza
Calabria
Nuccia
nuccia@gmail.com

There is no need for headings, periods, capitalized letters (other than then first initial), bold letters, first names of ancestors, etc.  This will cut down on time and editing and allow me to update the site more frequently.