Question regarding request for documents for 1948 case

[Kathy]

Hello all, its been a few weeks since I started this endeavor and I am happy that I have progress to report but a few questions as well. I received both of my grandparents birth certificates and their marriage certificate from Italy today! I cannot believe how easy this was but I found an amazing person to help me and it was painless and so quick.

Unfortunately it seems that obtaining documents from the United States government is 10 times harder which I kind of thought would be the other way around but here I am. I am going to put in a request for my grandfathers naturalization certificate. The only thing I could find online was the intention and the petition. On those documents his name was spelled incorrectly. Last name was Patrullo instead of Petrullo. My question is, if his name was spelled incorrectly on those documents would it be likely that it is also incorrect on the actual certificate? I'm not sure what name to ask for when I submit this request. I know nothing about this and I'm wondering if there's a possibility that his name might have been corrected between the petition and the actual certificate or if I should just submit the request for his name with the incorrect spelling that was on the documents I found on ancestry.com.

My second question here is, my father's birth name was Domenico. That is what is on his birth cert. On every other legal document from his marriage certificate to his death certificate to my birth certificate he goes by the American version of that name which is Thomas. I am wondering if anyone else out there who has a 1948 case or knows of a situation like this might be able to tell me if it is going to be necessary for me to amend all of those documents with the American version of that name or if Italy will recognize him as the same person because it's the same name but it's Americanized. I have sent out an email to the lawyer I am speaking to, but the response time is not immediate so I figured it couldnt hurt to ask this in case I am lucky enough that one of you out there reading this might have the answer to this. Thank you to anyone who responds to this!

[mler]

This is a difficult undertaking because it appears that you will have to amend the documents in which he is listed as Thomas. The English version of Domenico is actually Dominic. Since your father is no longer living, you will have to make this request, and I'm not certain how you would go about it. Try to obtain as many supporting documents as possible to connect "Domenico" to "Thomas".

As an alternative, it may be possible to amend his birth certificate depending on the locality and on the supporting documentation you possess. I was able to amend my own birth certificate in NYC, but I don't think it's possible to do so for a deceased parent. You will have to check.

You may also check if it's possible to get an aka (one and the same) affidavit.

Your lawyer may suggest an easier approach, so wait to hear from him.

As far as the naturalization certificate is concerned, you may find that the best approach is to do a search under both names.

[Kathy]

Thank you so much for replying! Its strange because when I googled asking what is the Italian translation of Thomas the answer that pops up is that it is the same as these three names "Tommaso, Gaetano, Domenico". Seeing Domenico there had me relieved for a bit. I didnt know there was such a thing as an aka affidavit but I will definitely look into that. I am not looking forward to changing his marriage and my birth certitficates. I am still waiting to here back from the lawyer so I will investigate these avenues until then. Thank you!

[mler]

Hi Kathy,

I had never heard of the Domenico/Thomas connection, but often when people came to the US they began using English names, and Thomas may well have been a frequent choice for men named Domenico.

Don't start looking until you hear from your lawyer. He will know if this is a problem. It may be a well known translation for them.

[mler]

Hi Kathy,

I checked the google site you referenced. As you noted, Thomas is a common translation for Domenico especially among Sicilians. Interesting.

[Kathy]

I wrote to him to ask him if its OK before I make anymore effort. The weird thing is , my father was born here in 1921 which was 10 years after my grandmother came here. They named him Domenico here and then he used Thomas on all other documents so it's not even like he came here from Italy with that name and then changed it when he got here. I wish I could yell at them and ask them why they did this LOL it's so frustrating! I am PRAYING he tells me its fine. Logically it should be , but I am learning that logic has nothing to do with law

[mler]

LOL. That was soooo common. Newly arrived Italians named their children according to the Italian tradition, and then their children tried, in any way they could, to become Americanized.

Mine is an Italian name (named for my grandmother). I hated it when I was young, and I love it now. Ironically, when my Italian-born husband met me, he immediately Americanized my name and, except for my family and the Italian government, that's the name I'm known by to most of my friends and colleagues.

Fingers crossed for you. Fortunately, it seems that the Italian courts are more flexible than the consulates.

[A.Michelle]

In what state are the incorrect documents recorded? I'm going through the same process in Arkansas, and it isn't as difficult as I expected.