KINGDOM OF NAPLES AROUND 1810

[carolinechurch]

I have spent more time than you would ever think possible wondering how I can narrow down the origin of my ggg grandfather Raffaele Ciaccia.
He was born around 1790, was in London by 1812, and only once, in the 1851 census, have I found his birthplace listed as Naples rather than Italy or 'foreign parts'
Having thought a lot about the situation in Italy at the time, I wonder whether he referred to the Kingdom of Naples, as it would have been when he left, rather than the city of Naples.
The name Ciaccia seems most prevalent in Sicily, which would have been part of the kingdom at that time.
Of course this is broadening my possible search area rather than narrowing it down.
Opinions from the historical geniuses among you would be welcomed!
Caroline.

[PeterTimber]

If you go to www.gens.labo.net/en/cognomi and put inCiaccia inthe upperleft and click the red arrow you will see there are 171 Cities,towns or villages having inhabitants bearing that surname, There are only two places in Sicily having this surname distribution.

If you go to www.paginebianche.it and put in Ciaccia inthe first line and beneath that SICILIA and click CERCA you will perhaps see where Ciaccia inhabitants currently reside.. The remaining 170 odd places are strung up and down the Italian peninsula as you can see.

Ciaccia does not appear inthe Italian surname dictionary indicating that it was either an imported surname and italianized or local in origin based upon a nickname,occupation or its dictionary word meaning "busybody" or chatterer. =Peter=

[carolinechurch]

Hi Peter.
I did try this site ages ago, then tried a couple of variants, and found Ciccia and Ciaccio in Sicily, rather than Ciaccia, but my 3am brainstorm left that out of the equation!

I have several examples of Raffaele and Saverio's signatures, they wrote well and clearly, and both were definitely Ciaccia, though records written by other people have lots of variations as you would expect.

Thanks so much for the classic interpretation - my husband will love it.
Caroline.