Italian surnames in the Family Names of the United Kingdom project (original) (raw)
Related papers
Pseudo-Sephardic Surnames from Italy
The article discusses examples of mixtures between groups of Italian Jews of various origins (Ashkenazic, Italiani, Sephardic), mixtures that can lead to confusion about the origin of names and show the complexity of the origins of Italian Jews. These examples illustrate a general point, namely that the onomastic approach can provide valuable information for history and genealogy.
Italian Jewish Surnames with Non-Trivial Etymology
Avotaynu, vol. XXXV, 3, pp. 23-28, 2019
The etymology of many surnames used by Jews in Italy is readily apparent. Yet, there is also a set of surnames that was either considered by previous authors as being of obscure origin or for which whimsical roots were suggested. The size of this set is relatively small, but many are among surnames that are commonly used and often had famous bearers. The article addresses the following names: Almagia, Artom, Chimchi, Cordovero, Cuzzeri, Finzi, Lampronti, Luzzatto, Meldola, Panzieri, Segre, Seppilli, Sforno, de Sola, and Treves.
Annals of Human Biology , 2021
Alessio BOATTINI/Eugenio BORTOLINI/Roland BAUER/Marta OTTONE/Rossella MIGLIO/Paola GUERESI/Davide PETTENER: Background: Thanks to the availability of rich surname, linguistic and genetic information, together with its geographic and cultural complexity, Trentino (North-Eastern Italy) is an ideal place to test the relationships between genetic and cultural traits. Aim: We provide a comprehensive study of population structures based on surname and dialect variability and evaluate their relationships with genetic diversity in Trentino. Subjects and methods: Surname data were collected for 363 parishes, linguistic data for 57 dialects and genetic data for different sets of molecular markers (Y-chromosome, mtDNA, autosomal) in 10 populations. Analyses relied on different multivariate methods and correlation tests. Results: Besides the expected isolation-by-distance-like patterns (with few local exceptions, likely related to sociocultural instances), we detected a significant and geography-independent association between dialects and surnames. As for molecular markers, only Y-chromosomal STRs seem to be associated with the dialects, although no significant result was obtained. No evidence for correlation between molecular markers and surnames was observed. Conclusion: Surnames act as cultural markers as do other words, although in this context they cannot be used as reliable proxies for genetic variability at a local scale.
L’onomastica di Malta è multistrato e multilingue. In modo particolare i cognomi sono penetrati nell’isola lungo alcuni secoli, conformemente alla complessità delle vicende storiche e linguistiche. alcuni dei cognomi più antichi sono di origine etimologica araba ma la deportazione dei musulmani nel Duecento ruppe i legami dell’isola con il mondo arabo-berbero. Da quei tempi, a parte il recente influsso inglese, le maggiori fonti culturali sono state la Sicilia, l’Italia e altre nazioni europee, in ispecie del mediterraneo. La lunga presenza dei Cavalieri di San Giovanni (1530-1798) moltiplicò la popolazione e il conseguente influsso di cognomi neolatini e continentali. Il presente studio esamina tre documenti rappresentativi che forniscono un quadro affidabile dei loro tempi: (a) l’elenco della Militia del 1419-20, che è il vero punto di partenza per lo studio demografico dell’isola nel periodo tardo-medievale; (b) lo Status Animarum, cioè il censimento diocesano del 1687, che illustra i cognomi del periodo dei Cavalieri; e (c) il censimento nazionale del 2005, che ritrae il profilo sociodemografico della popolazione isolana nel primo decennio del secolo XXI. Maltese onomastics is polystratal and polyglot. Family names, in particular, have reached the island over many centuries in complicated historical and linguistic conditions. Some of the oldest Maltese surnames are of Arabic origin; however, the expulsion of the Muslims in the thirteenth century brought about the final rupture of the powerful cultural ties which had bound Malta to the Arabo-Berber world. Since then, barring latter-day English influence, the dominant cultural driving force in Malta has come from Sicily, Italy and other European, mainly Mediterranean, countries. The prolonged presence of the Knights of St John (1530-1798) produced, in a more pronounced manner, an influx of neo-Latin and continental surnames. The present paper discusses three representative documents which serve as reliable snapshots of their times: (a) the militia List of c. 1419/20, which is truly a starting point for the study of Malta’s demographic make-up in the Late middle ages; (b) the Status Animarum or diocesan census of 1687, which throws significant light on Malta’s cognominal pool in the Hospitaller era; and (c) the national Census of 2005, which provides a socio-demographic profile of the local population in the early years of the twenty-first century.
The surnames of populations of the municipalities with Cimbro and Mòcheno origins are compared with each other and with other municipalities of the neighbourhood. This study starts from the supposition that a community of surnames shares a common cultural origin, maintained by reciprocal mobility. The analysis has been carried out by using estimates of the similarities between populations, the topological representations obtained by them and the spatial autocorrelation. On the whole, this research shows no evidence of peculiar distinctions between the populations that share Cimbro and Mòcheno origins compared to the neighbouring ones. Moreover, there is not any evident process of undifferentiated diffusion along all the directions. On the contrary, it is emphasized that belonging to the same geographic collocation and to the same administrative subdivision mostly influences the similarity between populations. The exception is the Cimbro municipality of Luserna, which presents a peculiar structure of surnames different from other municipalities of the same territory.
American Journal of Human Biology, 1999
The internal mobility of the population of the province of Lecco (Lombardy, Italy) was evaluated on the basis of the frequency of characteristic surnames in three territorial areas as a function of their geographical distance. Nearly three-quarters of the patterns are statistically significant in one of the three areas, where the process of diffusion of surnames could be interpreted as due to socioeconomic factors. On the contrary, a similar distribution is less evident in the other two areas of the same territory.
Riassunto: I cognomi derivati da toponimi sono particolarmente diffusi nella folta schiera dei cognomi esistenti a Malta. Questi sono a loro volta derivati da una toponomastica eterogenea di nomi già preesistenti: fattorie, villaggi, borghi, città, e anche altre denominazioni abitate come distretti, province, regioni e addirittura paesi. Questo saggio prende in analisi una selezione di cognomi maltesi di origine italiana che sono derivati dalle seguenti fonti diverse: toponimi siciliani (p.es. Messina, Delicata); toponimi di regioni e di province italiane (Genovese, Salerno); toponimi di regioni e di città straniere (Navarro, Desira); comunità etniche diverse (Albanese, Spagnol). Questo studio mette a fuoco alcuni cognomi, i quali a prescindere dalla loro localizzazione precisa, sono soggetti a interpretazioni ambivalenti.