Polizzi Generosa Surnames
1. Surnames : Many of the surnames in Polizzi have changed through the years. On the pre 1820 church records which are all completely handwritten by the priests in the local churches, the handwriting is often extremely difficult to read and decipher. It is not uncommon to find the names that you and I are familiar with, but with an “alias” surname included with them. But for now I’ll talk about post 1820 surnames found in the civil records. Remember that the great majority of Polizzans could not read or write. When asked by the registrar at the comune office what their name was they couldn’t spell it. So the registrar often just wrote what he heard. In the early years here are some examples:
Rubbe / Rubè / Rubé Gaudino / Gaudiino
Allegra / Gallegra Mangialino / Mancialino
Ciraolo / Ciraulo Intravartolo / Intravartulo
Saguto / Santo Curatolo / Curatulo
Spagnolo / Spagnuolo Liarda / Ilarda
Rannazzo / Randazzo Ranazisi / Randazisi / Rannazzisi
Di Gangi / Di Ganci L’Abate / Abbate
Alberti / Liberti / Aliberti Colluzzo / Colluzio
Cuggino / Guggino D’Ovico / Dovico
Sferruzza / Ferruzza Gammino / Gambino
Miranti / Mirante Onorato / Norato
Monfoletto / Muffaletta Russo / Russo Alesi
Pugliese / Puglisi D’Ippolito / Polito / di Polito
Giambri / Giambra Riccobeni / Riccobene
Russo / Ruffo
There are others, but these are the most common name variations.
PLEASE NOTE : For a very long time now I’ve questioned several of the Polizzi surnames that I see in the records...
GANDINO Most everyone who has worked on the Polizzi transcriptions in the past has spelled this surname with an N. That’s what it usually looks like, but it is GAUDINO. I have close to 50 handwritten letters (early 1900’s) from relatives in Polizzi with this surname, who spelled it GAUDINO. Recently it's been brought to my attention that this surname should be spelled GAUDIINO which to me makes absolutely no sense because I have never ever seen a double "ii" in Italian. But after watching the records more carefully I can say that there were families in the Polizzi records that spelled the name that way. However after checking into this farther, I find that the same families spelled the surname both ways at different times.
PICCINCA Again, most transcribers have written this name with an N. However again after reading the very early census records, I’ve decided it should be PICCIUCA.
RUFFO It's also been brought to my attention that the Russo surname should be Ruffo. Anyone who has done much work on Italian civil records knows that a double "ss" can look very much like a double "ff". Again I've gone back through many years of records and I find that there was at least one family in Polizzi where the surname was clearly written RUFFO. I don't know if there is any connection to the Russo family.
1. First name variations: Once again there are many variations in the spellings of 1st names. Most common are.....
Salvadore (a) & Salvatore (a). I find that the earlier records tend to use Salvadore / Salvadora. As the years progress Salvatore & Salvatora seem to be used more often. But either spelling would be correct.
Francesco Paola as seen in the earlier years is a male, not a female. In most cases where I've found this combination, I've used Francesco Paolo to make it easier for you to understand. In later years it seems to become more consistently Francesco Paolo.
Nicolà or Nicola is a male. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a female with this name in Polizzi. Once in a while Nicoletta, but not Nicola.
Maria when used along with another male name is a male, not a female.
Andrea is a male. A female would more likely be Andreana.
Felice in Polizzi seems to be both male & female. I've seen Felicia as a female a few times
but it's unusual.
Especially in the very early years, many of the Polizzi surnames are found preceded by Di / di , La / la , Lo/ lo. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to whether they are with capital letters or small, but again from my experience I would say the early records use a small letter. As the years go forward, they often use a capital letter. And very often the prefix is dropped completely.
What I’ve written above is only what I’ve seen in the Polizzi records. However, these are generalizations. I doubt very much that there were any actual rules for any of this. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask me and I can zero in more on your surnames in question.
5-1-2015
1. Surnames : Many of the surnames in Polizzi have changed through the years. On the pre 1820 church records which are all completely handwritten by the priests in the local churches, the handwriting is often extremely difficult to read and decipher. It is not uncommon to find the names that you and I are familiar with, but with an “alias” surname included with them. But for now I’ll talk about post 1820 surnames found in the civil records. Remember that the great majority of Polizzans could not read or write. When asked by the registrar at the comune office what their name was they couldn’t spell it. So the registrar often just wrote what he heard. In the early years here are some examples:
Rubbe / Rubè / Rubé Gaudino / Gaudiino
Allegra / Gallegra Mangialino / Mancialino
Ciraolo / Ciraulo Intravartolo / Intravartulo
Saguto / Santo Curatolo / Curatulo
Spagnolo / Spagnuolo Liarda / Ilarda
Rannazzo / Randazzo Ranazisi / Randazisi / Rannazzisi
Di Gangi / Di Ganci L’Abate / Abbate
Alberti / Liberti / Aliberti Colluzzo / Colluzio
Cuggino / Guggino D’Ovico / Dovico
Sferruzza / Ferruzza Gammino / Gambino
Miranti / Mirante Onorato / Norato
Monfoletto / Muffaletta Russo / Russo Alesi
Pugliese / Puglisi D’Ippolito / Polito / di Polito
Giambri / Giambra Riccobeni / Riccobene
Russo / Ruffo
There are others, but these are the most common name variations.
PLEASE NOTE : For a very long time now I’ve questioned several of the Polizzi surnames that I see in the records...
GANDINO Most everyone who has worked on the Polizzi transcriptions in the past has spelled this surname with an N. That’s what it usually looks like, but it is GAUDINO. I have close to 50 handwritten letters (early 1900’s) from relatives in Polizzi with this surname, who spelled it GAUDINO. Recently it's been brought to my attention that this surname should be spelled GAUDIINO which to me makes absolutely no sense because I have never ever seen a double "ii" in Italian. But after watching the records more carefully I can say that there were families in the Polizzi records that spelled the name that way. However after checking into this farther, I find that the same families spelled the surname both ways at different times.
PICCINCA Again, most transcribers have written this name with an N. However again after reading the very early census records, I’ve decided it should be PICCIUCA.
RUFFO It's also been brought to my attention that the Russo surname should be Ruffo. Anyone who has done much work on Italian civil records knows that a double "ss" can look very much like a double "ff". Again I've gone back through many years of records and I find that there was at least one family in Polizzi where the surname was clearly written RUFFO. I don't know if there is any connection to the Russo family.
1. First name variations: Once again there are many variations in the spellings of 1st names. Most common are.....
Salvadore (a) & Salvatore (a). I find that the earlier records tend to use Salvadore / Salvadora. As the years progress Salvatore & Salvatora seem to be used more often. But either spelling would be correct.
Francesco Paola as seen in the earlier years is a male, not a female. In most cases where I've found this combination, I've used Francesco Paolo to make it easier for you to understand. In later years it seems to become more consistently Francesco Paolo.
Nicolà or Nicola is a male. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a female with this name in Polizzi. Once in a while Nicoletta, but not Nicola.
Maria when used along with another male name is a male, not a female.
Andrea is a male. A female would more likely be Andreana.
Felice in Polizzi seems to be both male & female. I've seen Felicia as a female a few times
but it's unusual.
Especially in the very early years, many of the Polizzi surnames are found preceded by Di / di , La / la , Lo/ lo. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to whether they are with capital letters or small, but again from my experience I would say the early records use a small letter. As the years go forward, they often use a capital letter. And very often the prefix is dropped completely.
What I’ve written above is only what I’ve seen in the Polizzi records. However, these are generalizations. I doubt very much that there were any actual rules for any of this. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask me and I can zero in more on your surnames in question.
5-1-2015
