Marriage Record - No last name for Bride?

[dixiecricket13]

Can someone translate this for me? I don't understand why the bride has no last name given in the margin.

Thanks.
-C

[maestra36]

the bride is of unknown parents

[Italysearcher]

In some towns female children who were abandoned were not given a surname. On marriage they would use the husband's surname but not acquire it.

[dixiecricket13]

Thank you for the information. I am a bit confused. On a separate post you can see the marriage record for this person. It appears that someone has gone back in and written in the last name of Lanza on the marriage record. Similarly, on her subsequent children's baptismal records, she is listed as either Benedicta or Francesca Lanza. Where do you think Lanza came from?

[dixiecricket13]

Also could someone provide a translation, please?

Thank you.
-C

[Italysearcher]

Lanza was probably invented by the town officials for an occasion where a surname was required and she had never had one. They would then go back and 'correct' any previous acts. The one you provided looks like a parish record and they probably didn't care that she had no surname. It would be the civil acts that would require one.

[dixiecricket13]

Thank you for the information. I guess I am still really confused about how the process would have worked.

In this instance, would the name Lanza have meant anything to her regarding her lineage or would it have been an arbitrary name assigned to her?

[CowryShells]

The surname given would be one that is not present in the town.* It would just be assigned. I have an ancestor who was an abandoned infant and this all came as quite a surprise to me as well. My ancestor still did not have a surname at the time of her wedding.


*Ann (Italysearcher) was the one who told me this.