Our Italian Surnames

by Joseph G. Fucilla

Our Italian Surnames covers every fact of Italian names and naming practices. It includes a list of sources and an index of more than 7,500 names.

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Msimone · Rating 5 out of 5]

You are likely to remember stories about how your parents selected your first names. Their reasons are many: your given name was an old family name, or a popular one during your birth year or possibly , your given name honors a favorite politician, a saint, an actor, or a celebrity. Maybe, your parents created your name based on the word for an object, a bird, or a spécial place that connoted beauty, power, or virtue to them. Maybe, they liked a word but added a flourish to to it such as a préfix, suffix, or compound the word with another word to invent a personally meaningful, however unusual first name. "Our Italian Surnames" provides these and other many interesting reasons about how first names developed through Italy, and also explains how family names developed out of first names as a way to identify people as communities grew, requiring naming conventions to recognize relationships among people for economic and political reasons.

How many of us have considered the origins of our family names, especially if our antedescendants were immigrants? I discovered this book because of my interest in geneology. As I searched for my antedescents in Italy, I found many of their first names repeated throughout generations, having followed a tradition of naming firstborn male and female after paternal and maternal grand-parents. I also discovered a bounty of same first names in ecclesiastical and civil registries of births, marriages and deaths who came from the same geographical region. The family surname attached to my grandfather's given name was what distinguished him from other Italians in his town named Andrea. But how did he and his antedescendants acquire their family name to distinguish themselves from one another? "Our Italian Surnames" answered this question for me in detail. The book also led me to understand about the historical influences on surnames in Italy, the geographical distribution of surnames in northern and southern Italy, the influences of foreign occupation of European invaders on surnames, and so much more, The book also lists many surnames comonly found in Italy and explains their development. An interesting fact is that Rossi and last names emanating from Rossi are shared by the greatest number of Italians, and that Esposito is the most repandant surname found around Naples. I believe that the many facts provided about the évolution of surnames in Italy, have direct relevance to how first and surnames have evolved in general. The book is a great read.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reprint of a book written in 1949. Dr. Fucilla was born in Italy and a full professor at Northwestern U., who retired in 1965. My copy has a sturdy binding and no frills packaging. The entries are very clear and easy to follow. I was amazed by how many of the surnames I was interested in were covered. I have used it for years. This is a must have for anybody interested in Italian family history.