U.S. names versus Italian Names

[fishacura]

My great great grandfater was named Ercole, but when he got to this country he started calling himself Frank. That name is everywhere but his death cert which has his proper name. His wife's name in the U.S. was Maria but I may have found that her true name was Candida in the old country.

My question is, was this fairly common because it sure makes research difficult

[johnnyonthespot]

Certainly there are tons of

Giuseppe -> Joseph
Vincenzo -> Vincent (also James/Jimmy; go figure)
Luigi -> Louis
Filippo -> Philip
Piero -> Perry
Maria -> Mary
Francesca -> Francis
Francesco -> Frank

and so on.

And then there are the odd ones; either because there is no obvious anglicization or because they are just plain odd:

Ercole -> anything
Pellegrino -> anything

In the case of Candida -> Maria, well, about all we can say is, it's possible...

[maestra36]

I believe it was common for the immigrants to change their Italian names to American ones to "fit in," so to speak. It was part of their process of becoming Americanized. Also, if an immigrant was young and attended school in the U.S., it was common for teachers to call them by names other than their Italian names, sometimes just because of the difficulty in pronouncing them. This was particularly true of surnames, but also occured with first names. There were also a lot of stigmas in the American society attached to Italian immigrants-especially the ones from southern Italy and Sicily. So to avoid derogatory name-calling and the like, a lot of Italian immigrants did whatever they could to viewed as American rather than as Italian and this included using American rather than Italian first names.

As to Candida, it may be possible that her name in Italy was either Maria Candida or Candida Maria. It was very common for both males and females to have Maria as part of their names, either as a first name or middle name. If you search through Italian records for a particular town, you often find that the Maria was dropped in later records.

[oilman19]

For what it is worth, all of the Ercole's in my family tree kept the integrity of the name. There is no evidence they ever attempted to Americanize the name. The name Frank probably opened more doors for your ggrandfather. Opportunities did not abound back then for people with Italian sounding names.
Just a thought.

Jim

[jamiecapaldi]

Candida in Italian means 'White' and Ercole means 'Hercules'!

[oilman19]

Hi Peg

Your message was much more concise than mine.

Jim

[maestra36]

We were thinking along the same lines, Jim.
Peg

[maestra36]

The Italian immigrants did face a great deal of discrimination, particularly from other groups already here.

[oilman19]

One other thought. My Ercole's were stone masons. They owned a construction company (built a good part of the town they settled in). They probably did not face the discrimination typical in the large cities. They probably did the work no one else could do.

Jim

[jamiecapaldi]

There is quite a few Candida surnames found i Italy.
Mainly in Lazio (rome), Campania (naples) and Puglia (between taranto and brindisi) Regions.

[fishacura]

Thanks all. I am chomping at the bit here....I ordered birth records to my local FHC for late 1800s Pedace, Rogliano, Marzi, Piane Crati and Donnici and hopefully they're here next week...cannot wait to get re-started!!!

[misbris]

I rememer from my childhood someone called "Herk" or" Herc". Probably Ercole. And let's not forget Hercule Poirot.

[adifresco]

Vincenzo -> Vincent (also James/Jimmy; go figure)

Wow, I had no idea this was common! My g-g-grandfather was named Vincenzo but went by James or Jimmy most of his life. I always thought it was unique to my family and wondered why he chose that name. Do you know why this is?

A few more...
my g-g-grandmother was originally named Fiorentina, but went by Florence. My great-grandmother was named Sabina but went by Sally.

[JohnArmellino]

Wow, I had no idea this was common! My g-g-grandfather was named Vincenzo but went by James or Jimmy most of his life. I always thought it was unique to my family and wondered why he chose that name. Do you know why this is?

In Italy, it's not uncommon to use the nickname "Cenz" for Vincenzo. In dialect (at least Southern Italian dialects), Cenz is pronounced as Genz. To the American ear Genz sounded somewhat like James, hence Vincenzo became James.

[johnnyonthespot]

In Italy, it's not uncommon to use the nickname "Cenz" for Vincenzo. In dialect (at least Southern Italian dialects), Cenz is pronounced as Genz. To the American ear Genz sounded somewhat like James, hence Vincenzo became James.

Great explanation, John!

Just goes to show, there is a reason for everything.