Recording Italian Surnames - late 1800s to early 1900.
Hello! I would like assistance with understanding how Italian surnames are recorded and if or how they might change over time.
I'm researching a couple from Altomonte, Cosenza, Calabria who were married and had children during 1868-1880s.
In the birth record for their son Giovanni born in 1874, the parents names are listed as Ferdinando Capparelli di Vincenzo and Annuziata Viceconte di Nicolina.
Does Ferdinando's name mean that he is the son of Vincenzo Capparelli? And does the Viceconte after Annuziata's name suggest she is a noblewoman or is Viceconte a surname? Is Nicolina Viceconte her mother?
Giovanni dies in 1901, but his parents names have changed to just Ferdinando Capparelli with no di Vincenzo and Annunciata Scaramuzza.
I have seen this on several other records of their children’s births and marriages so am confident that these are the same people.
Does this reflect a change in the way the names are recorded for the time period or has something occurred like a change in status or loss of property that would impact the way their names are recorded.
Thank you!
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hello in some documents the paternity is indicated, then you will find the name, surname and name of the father.
in the case that indicates you find the birth of Giovanni Capparelli, the name of the father: Ferdinando and the name of the grandfather: Vincenzo. So Nicolina is the grandmother and Annunziata is the mother.
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Thank you Dario - I appreciate it!
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search again because they are not the same person, they have a different age and different mother surname
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From my experience, the most likely explanation is simply a mistake in one of the two registrations (most likely the first one). Bear in mind that at time, most people were illiterate and didn't have ID. Mistakes are not uncommon.
As for Vincenzo, it is certainly the name of the grandfather. "di" indicates that Vincenzo was still alive at the time of the registration, otherwise you would find "fu". In my experience it is is very unusual to find name of grand-mother "di Nicolina". This can have 3 explanations: 1) Annunziatar was the daughter of an unknown father; 2) Nicolina should be read as Nicolino, male name; 3) There was a local custom in Altomonte to indicate the name of the mother (I gave a look at the other registration and it does not seem so though).
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Hi Dario,
Thank you so very much for your time and comment. I’m very excited to solve this mystery and understand the records.
Here is another example. In 1872, a Ferdinando Capparelli di Vincenzo and a Annunciata Viceconte have a daughter named Maria Teresa Capparelli. The record is #2 on the bottom left side. I believe the notation on the side says that she marries Francesco Franco in the year 1898.
The Marriage record of Maria Teresa Capparelli and Francesco Franco in 1898 is below. The names of the parents are Ferdinando Capparelli and Annunciata Scaramuzza.
I understand Ferdinando’s name now, but I don’t understand the change in Annuniciata’s surname and if it is just an error or something of significance.
Thanks for all your effort!
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Thank you so much for reviewing my request and for your information. What you've said makes sense to me. All I know about Annunziata, which is not very much, is based on family stories, not fact - she is supposed to be the wife of a man with property who exports olives. She is referred to as a "gentle woman" in documents - that leads me to believe that her father was known, but that's just an assumption. I will try searching for a Nicolino Scaramuzza and see what I can find - thank you again!
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