Middle became first name in US

Over 25 million Italians have emigrated between 1861 and 1960 with a migration boom between 1871 and 1915 when over 13,5 million emigrants left the country for European and overseas destinations.
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pcgraphics
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Middle became first name in US

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What difficulty will I encounter due to the fact that the Italian birth certificate (abstract) lists my paternal grandfather as Antonio Pasquale Cordella, his name on the Spartan Prince manifest is listed as Antonio (age 15, 1900) but on all US documents he uses his middle name Pasquale with no reference to Antonio? A family tree obtained in Striano shows his younger sibling is Antonio without a middle name.

thank you,
Phil
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aliza24
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Re: Middle became first name in US

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Well it shouldn't be TOO much more difficult- you'll just have a few more name variations to search.

The double name thing is very common and it's also common for them to only go by one of the two (either one). Then...they often Anglicized the name later so you should look for English versions and nicknames as well.

So for example: Domenicantonio could become simply Antonio, then Anthony, then Tony.

FYI- I have a Pasquale in my tree that went by Patsy. You might want to try that variation. I think some Pasquales used it for short.
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Re: Middle became first name in US

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PS- Another thing about the two names...Italians were usually pretty strict in adhering to the naming traditions for kids. That means that they had to name the first few according to tradition- even if they didn't care for the name.

And likewise, the child may not have liked that he / she had so many cousins close in age of the same name from siblings all doing the same thing! So maybe this is another reason why you see so many actually going by their second name. Just a theory...:)
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pcgraphics
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Re: Middle became first name in US

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Thank you for your input. My main concern is obtaining dual citizenship through this person (my paternal grandfather) Is this still doable?

Phil
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aliza24
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Re: Middle became first name in US

Post by aliza24 »

Oh- I thought you were just doing this for genealogy research.

There are people here that know more about that side of things than me but from what I've heard if the name changes in any of the documents that you have you will need something to prove that it is in fact them- or maybe even get a correction- if that's possible.

I've heard others say that a name was misspelled, for example, and they did have some hurdles to go through.

Maybe you could tell us which document(s) in particular that you are concerned about and I'm sure someone here can give you some advice.
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pcgraphics
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Re: Middle became first name in US

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The question is for dual citizenship. The document with the three names - Antonio Pasquale Cordella is on the "Estratto dai registri atti di nascita". Antonio appears again on the manifest for the Spartan Prince in 1900. After that Pasquale is used in America.

I hope this helps.

Thank you,
Phil
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