Last name same, except for ending in a or i

[suz1154]

Hello. Does it mean anything if the only variation in a last name is the last letter? I had heard that my husband's grandparents were cousins before marriage. The wife's mother's surname before marriage was Anelli and the husband's mother's surname before marriage was Anello. Is that just coincidence--the surnames being so similar--or what's the significance in that?

[PeterTimber]

There is no actual significance with surname spelling changes by one or more letters.

Many names in Italy start out as a base surname from which there are a few or many variations, alterations, derivations in spelling. The base surname ANELLI has one variation which is ANELLO. The ANELLI spdelling is spread out in Lombardia region while ANELLO is in Southern Italy.

The first time the name appeared was in 1297 in Molfetta as ANELLUS.

=Peter=

[Seraphina]

Hi Suz1154,

Peter is correct in that they might not necessarily be related to each other, but as the information that they were cousins has been handed down through your family, then they probably were.

In my own family, I have found the surname ending with ...ti ...tti ...to and ...tto, and all are descended from the same GG parents.

Hope this helps.

Seraphina

[suz1154]

Thanks Peter and Seraphina.