Surname Practice

[darkerhorse]

In 17th century Sicily, if a single mother and child shared the same surname is it more likely that the mother took her husband's surname or that the mother gave the child her maiden surname?

[Tessa78]

In 17th century Sicily, if a single mother and child shared the same surname is it more likely that the mother took her husband's surname or that the mother gave the child her maiden surname?

If she is single, there is no husband?

T.

[PippoM]

My guess is that darkerhorse found something like a census record like this

Rosalia Macaluso
Sebastiano Macaluso child

so he wonders if Macaluso is Rosalia's maiden name and she is a single mother whose child took her surname,
o a married woman, whose husband is not listed because absent or deceased, listed with husband's surname.
I'm leaning towards the former.

[darkerhorse]

The 1593 Riveli has Filippa Petrocello with her 4-year old son Blasi (number 120).

In the 1616 Riveli there's a Blasi Petrocello aged 24 and in the 1623 Riveli there's a Blasi Petrocello aged 32.

I think the ages are close enough to conclude it's the same Blasi in all three records. I didn't find Filippa listed in any Riveli after 1593.

[darkerhorse]

My guess is that darkerhorse found something like a census record like this

Rosalia Macaluso
Sebastiano Macaluso child

so he wonders if Macaluso is Rosalia's maiden name and she is a single mother whose child took her surname,
o a married woman, whose husband is not listed because absent or deceased, listed with husband's surname.
I'm leaning towards the former.

That's a bingo!

[darkerhorse]

I wonder how common it was for single mothers to give their children their maiden name instead of the father's surname?

I suppose DNA testing might help sort things out as to implications for the real surname line.

[andbin]

It is because the husband was deceased, not that the children were illegitimate. Wives of deceased men were recorded in the Riveli with their husband's surname, with the same surname of the children to follow. Typically, women were recorded with no surname if their husband was still living. I never came across a census record that included an illegitimate child, but you can see that Filippa Petrocello's case is similar with other census' records included in 1593 above.

In my family's town of Nicosia, the 1607 Riveli actually did include the maiden name's of women, only if the husband was still living. However, the Riveli that followed after (1616, 1623, etc) did not include the maiden names of the women.

I have a few instances of a woman being listed as a head of the household in the Riveli, and her surname would match the children's surname. It is because she was widowed. I noticed ages of women were also not included in any set of Riveli (you can see that they originally were in that 1593 Riveli, but then crossed out... not sure why).

Also, typically women gave a child born out of wedlock their maiden name. There is a blog post on this site somewhere that actually goes in depth about the whole process: https://www.italiangenealogy.com/articl ... e-marriage