The name Letterio

[jwiilliams]

Does anyone know about the name Letterio? Its rarity? Is it common? Does it have an equivalent English name? I am so confused right now.

[misbris]

Letterio/Letteria (fem) is an Italian given name. Just to see how rare it was, I did a search on Ellis Island for the first name. There were at least a thousand men and women with this name. I could not find an equivalent English name.

[jwiilliams]

I did a little research.

Origin: Typical name of northeast Sicily associated with the worship of St. Maria of the Letter, patron saint of Messina that, according to tradition, blessed the Messina ambassadors to Palestine, entrusting them with a letter of protection for all of the city.

Name Day/Onomastico: June 3—in honor of the Madonna of the Letter, patron saint of Messina.

Related Name/Other Italian Forms: masculine form of Letteria

http://italian.about.com/library/name/b ... tterio.htm

Thanks, Giacomo

[juanminbar]

letterio=louis


j

[nuccia]

letterio=louis


j

Interesting. I just did some research for a lady I work with and her great grandmother's name was Letterina. I would assume then that her North American name could possibly have translated to Louisa which would tie in with the naming traditions in her family. Thanks for the hint.

[Veronesi-Guardini]

letterio=louis


j

Is this as well as Luigi being the most common one?

[juanminbar]

different regions have various spellings.

in sicily carmelo, naples carmine

in sicily antonino, naples antonio

an example of two. when you state the two on the left to one from naples, then will say'' you are from the south''

j

[warriorrabbit]

We have a couple of Letterios (family's from Messina). They went with Leo, not Luigi/Louis. We had a couple Letterias, too, and the girls went with Lillian.

Just throwing it out there.

[juanminbar]

when italians emigrated to america many names were americanize. as i stated in an earlier post there was a different meaning/makeup for southern and northern italians.

regarding the two letterio's in my family who came from two different villages in the province of messina both took on the name of louis/louie.

ciao, john