Storytime
My grandfather was Michele Marrone, born in a small Italian village. He immigrated to the United States as a teenager and settled in Chicago. In 1914, he married the daughter of Italian immigrants. Her name was Carmela Storto. Shortly after the birth of their fourth child, Carmela died from an infection. Family stories tell how distraught and heartbroken Michele was. They say he wore black for a year. About six years later he married again. Her name was...can you guess...Carmela Marrone. That's right. He married two Carmelas. To complicate matters, the second Carmela's maiden name was Marrone, the same as his last name.
Do you see how this may cause issues?
Throughout the years, my mother and I have repeatedly corrected information on public family trees. People think they are helping and they attach records for the second Carmela to the first Carmela. The first Carmela died in 1922, but people regularly attach the 1930, 1940, and 1950 United States federal census to her. The census records show a Carmela married to Michele in Chicago, so it must be her. Right? Even family who have had the situation explained to them get confused and attach incorrect records.
I'd like to say this is a unique occurrence, but it really isn't. Many Italians use naming conventions that result in duplicated names, and certain names seem to be very popular at different times. It is not just the first name that is duplicated, but the last name as well. This means researchers need to be careful and conscientious about insuring they have found the correct person.
*The photo on the left is of the first Carmela with one of her sisters. The photo on the right is of Michele with the second Carmela at one of his daughters weddings.
Naming Conventions
Let's talk about Italian naming conventions for a moment.
The first male was named after his paternal grandfather.
The second male was named after his maternal grandfather.
The first female was named after her paternal grandmother.
The second female was named after her maternal grandmother.
Other children may be named after parents, aunts, uncles, a saint, or other family. Often times, if the family had a child die they would reuse that name for a child that was born later.
While many families followed these customs, not everyone did. Some families followed just some of the customs.
An Example
Here's an illustration of a family that followed some of the naming customs, but not all of them.
Fedele Marrone (1824-1897) was the son of Nicola Marrone (1796-1841) and Giovanna Ianniruberto (1800-unknown).
Fedele was married to Maria Felicia Pettinicchi (1829-unknown) who was the daughter of Giuseppe Pettinicchi (1801-1853) and Maria Giuseppa di Fiore (1800-unknown)
Fedele and Maria Felicia had four known children. The children were born 2-3 years apart, so it is likely there were no children born between them. The birth order was boy, girl, girl, boy. If Fedele and Maria Felicia had followed the naming customs
Fedele and Maria Felicia's known children would have been:
Nicola
Giovanna
Maria Giuseppa
Giuseppe
However, they named their children:
Nicola
Mariagiuseppa
Maria Concetta
Emmanuele
So while this family used the first naming convention of naming the first son after the paternal grandfather, they did not follow the naming conventions for the other children. You can also see that they named the first daughter after her maternal grandmother, instead of the paternal grandmother.
However, their choice of names still resulted in two Nicola Marrones in the same village born about fifty years apart from each other. In addition, Fedele had a brother that also named a son Maria Nicola. Now we know of three Nicola Marrones born in the same village all within 50 years. Do you see how a family following even one of the naming customs resulted in several people with the same name?
Research Implications
So what does this mean for your research? It means you need to be careful when you THINK you have found your ancestor. Luckily, Italian civil records often include details such as ages, parents' names, and even grandfathers' names. Correlating these details can help you be more confident in identifying your ancestor. Is it still possible to make mistakes after aligning multiple details? You bet. However, it will hopefully decrease the likelihood of researching the wrong ancestor. When researching an Italian ancestor that immigrated to the United States, try to find multiple records in the United States that list their parents. Then use the parents names to help find your ancestor's birth record in Italy.
Deceased Children
Italians had another naming custom that can make things interesting. If one of their children died, and they were still in their child-bearing years, they would often reuse that name for another child.
An Example
Here are the known children of Luigi Storto (1841-unknown) and Antonietta De Rubertis (1841-unknown).
Maria (1859-unknown)
Giuseppe (1860-1864)
Dominico (1862-1913)
Chiara (1864-unknown)
Giuseppe (1866-unknown)
Giovanni (1871-unknown)
Giovanni (1872-unknown)
Nicolina (1875-unknown)
Maria Nicola (1876-unknown)
Marianicola (1879-unknown)
What do you notice? Three of the children's names were repeated. In the case of the first Giuseppe a birth and death record were found. The second Giuseppe was born just two years after the first's death. It appears the parents reused his name for the next son born after the first Giuseppe's death.
In the case of the Giovannis, two distinct birth records were found about a year-and-a-half apart. While a death record for the first Giovanni has not been found, it is likely that the first Giovanni died sometime before the second Giovanni's birth.
The two Maria Nicolas are a similar situation. There are two distinct birth records, but no death record has been found for the first Maria Nicola. So again, it is likely that the first Maria Nicola died sometime before her sister's birth in 1879. The appearance of a Nicolina before either of the two Maria Nicolas also raises questions. Nicolina is quite similar to Nicola. Did Nicolina die before the first Maria Nicola was born? It is unknown, but definitely worth looking into.
Research Implications
So what does this mean for research? Well several things.
Repeated names suggests the first child by that name may have died before the second child by that name was born. The date of births provide you with a window of time to look for a death record of the first child.
Sometimes marriages and other life events get attached to the wrong individual. There have been instances when I have attached life events to one individual only to discover that they had a sibling by the same name born after them. This means I may have attached that life event to the wrong individual and further research is needed.
Conclusion
Now that you know about these naming customs, you can watch for them. Researching our ancestors is rewarding, but it can also be frustrating when you spend a lot of time chasing down the wrong rabbit hole.
Felice ricerca!
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