Americanized versions of italian names

[misbris]

What happened was when they got to America, they transformed the name into a close English substitute. It had nothing to do with the root word or meaning, just the sound. Hence, Mattia could have become Martha, Matty, or Mattie.

Examples from my own family:

Filomena-Florence or Flora
Gesolmina-Geraldine
Carmella-Millie
Domenica-Minnie
Serafina-Sarah

And as Livio said Calogero turned into Charles.

[wldspirit]

Very true.....
My Settimio became Sam......which has nothing to do with the
root word or the meaning.
Lee

[vj]

Can't resist adding to the list!

My grandfather's family from New Jersey.
No one can figure out where they came up with their children's names, they didn't follow any traditional naming patterns
Valarie

Gaetano: Thomas
Angiolina: Angela
Children:
Arturo/Arthur: Liddy
Vincenzo: James
Margherita: Margaret
Amalia: Millie
Libero: Albert
Ribello: David
Settimo: Sammy
Lorenzo: Larry
Giulia: Julia

[Conti832]

My Grandmother's name was Mattia. Last fall we went to Pofi where Her and my Grandfather came from.When I told Someone what Her name was The reply was that it was a Male name,A couple gentlemen then said no it can be both.On the 1930 census records here in Pa. it was listed as Martha.

My cousin also named his Girl Mattia.

[PeterTimber]

We went thru this not too long ago...Mattia is of Hebrew origin Matithyah and means gift of God while Matteo enjoys the same origin word for word and neither is identified as male or female. Howver in Italian matteo means Matthew which is traditonally a Male name and Mattia has no english equivalent. The Italian word dictionary shows Matteo as being Matthew but Mattia as a word mean craze and other endings indicate mental weakness. =Peter=

[adellaholly]

Spellings of names are not that definite in any language. Certainly not in English - just look at some early censuses in this country. The same was true in Italy. I have found the same name in the same Italian town, near the same date spelled differently in the town records (both surnames and given names). And the custom of running given names together Roocantonio, Domenicantonio makes endings a bit ambiguous. Also using a female name like Maria as a male given name and a male name like Rocco as a given name for a female is common in the records I am researching.

When people came to the US they often used the name they felt was closest or they thought "sounded" closest to the Italian name. "Donato" was translated into English by my family as "Daniel" when that is not the case; I am not sure, but Donato seems closer to Donald to me!! And there is an actual name in Italian for Daniel!! Biase was sometimes called "Bill" when it is nothing like the Italian for William!! Does anyone know what Biase is - is that a saint's name? Also, Egidio - does that have a translation or is it a saint's name as well? You can tell I am not a Catholic- not up on saint's names! I saw Egidio translated into English as Edijious in one family?

In English is there a female version of the name Matthew? - would "Martha" be the closest they could come to a translation?

Celeste

[adellaholly]

I just thought of a name used in one of my "English" background lines - also from Hebrew. "Michael" as a female name as it is translated in the Bible (David's wife) but is usually spelled Michale (and used today as Michala - Mic-kala). It was supposed to be pronounced Mic-kale but often was spelled as Michael and also pronounced like the male name in English. One of my relatives married a lady of that given name, and it was often misspelled or mispronounced - once even as "Mecar" (do to southern drawl, I guess). Once a census taker who did not really see her - when he heard the name spoken he enumerated her as a male (which made it hard to find her on the census!).

So names are really hard to pin down; as long time teacher I saw names spelled every which way. I had 5 Debbies one year in class and none of them spelled it the same way!!

Celeste

[kcook58]

I know this is an old post but I just now came across it. My grandmother's name was Mattea. She hated that name and changed it to Edith. She was born in Colorado but her parents were from Italy.