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Sant'Eufemia a Maiella

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Official Sant'Eufemia a Maiella web site.

A Brief History of Sant'Eufemia.

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Americanization of Names

I don't believe the old story that the officials at Ellis Island changed the names. I don't think I've ever seen that in the records. The names might be spelled wrong on the ship's manifests but that's all. I've also come to realize that when the Ellis Island records were two pages, the first page (with the name) was filled out as they were boarding (most likely written by an Italian) and second page was done when they landed. Take a look at They Changed Our Name at Ellis Island by Donna Przecha.

Here are some of the variations of names from Sant'Eufemia a Maiella that I've seen in my searches. Sometimes the immigrant changed to the Americanized version. Other times, that is just how English speakers spelled the name after hearing it.

SPA Name
 Americanzied Name
diVecchia DiVecchio
Belveg
Delwet
DelVecchio
diPietrantonio Pietro
diPietro
Petro
diGiovine Giovanni
DeJovin
D'Jovin
Palmieri Palmer
Palmere
Palmeri

The only rule about di and de in the family name is there was no rule. I've found in the oldest microfilms (1809), family names were written this way:
    Giacomo (d')
And it was indexed under "G". Later on it became:
    (di) Giacomo
And it was still indexed under "G". Then later:
    diGiacomo
And it was indexed under "D". Then later:
    DiGiacomo
was used in the 20th century. In all cases, though, it was "di" and not "de". I think the "de" came from Americanization. In Italian, "di" is pronounced DEE where in English, "di" is pronounced DIE. To get the same sound in English, it was written "de" which is pronounced DEE.

My dad told me that spelling was never taught in the schools in Italy. In Italian almost every letter is pronounced so words are written as they are spoken and spoken as they are written. The way it was actually spelled did not seem to be very important.

Here are some first names:

SPA Name
 Americanzied Name
Amico
 Mike
Giuseppe
 Joseph
Giovanni
 John
Giovanna
 Julia
Domenico
 Domenic, Thomas
Sabatino
 Sam
Michele
 Mike
Eufemia
 Fannie, Frances
Camillo
 Charles, Camille
Pasquale Patsy, Patrick, Charles
Vincenzo Vincent, Vince, James
Margherita Daisy
Nunziata Nancy

More about Italian Names and their English Equivalents - click here or click here.


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