Italy and/or Germany?????????????????

astrorse · Post by **astrorse** » 04 May 2003, 03:27

My surname is Zinna. My father's family is 200% sure that that is an Italian name; it is only 2 generations back. But, my family and I have also discovered a Cloister Zinna, in Germany. We have sent for and recieved a pamphlet from them, which we are now working on translating. The problem is, we don't know whether we are in any way related to the Zinna's in Germany. If the Zinna's immigrated from Germany to Italy, we could be related to them. But if some Zinna's went to Germany while others stayed in Italy, then we are not related to them. We are not even possitive that the last name is Zinna: the Kloister may be named after another last name, just abbreviated, or Zinna could mean something in a local dialect. I don't know whether it is worth it to look into the prospect of the Zinna's coming from Germany.

ptimber · Post by **ptimber** » 04 May 2003, 03:33

There are 337 persons in Italy surnamed Zinna and 50% are in Sicily and the rest scattered all over Italy. There is no Zinna in the dictionary of Italian surnames indicating the name is either local or foreign. Peter

astrorse · Post by **astrorse** » 04 May 2003, 03:39

Thanks. I found out about what it means from http://www.italyworldclub.com/genealogy/surnames/
It says "ZINNI, ZINNO- From the dialect words "zinnu" or "zinna" = small, little", so apparently 'Zinna' is a local word.

ptimber · Post by **ptimber** » 04 May 2003, 05:07

Zini is the base name and since all variations, alterations and derivations do not include zinni it must be assumed that either a spelling error occurred or the name is indeed local or foreign. Peter