Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

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aliza24
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Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by aliza24 »

Hi Gang,

While searching death records in Montefredane (Avellino, Campania), I came across one where the mother's name was listed as: first name: Cicilia; last name: Ave gratia plena.

I found out that "ave gratia plena" is something like "hail, full of grace" in Latin.

I figured maybe the person reporting the death just didn't know the mother's last name and that's why that was there. But here's where the mystery gets even stranger...

I started looking up other records for siblings of the deceased to see if any of those would have Cicilia's last name. And they all had her last name as: "Ave Maria"- with Ave Maria underlined.

I've never seen any last names underlined like that- and what do you think it means that they put "Ave Maria" as the last name- repeatedly?

Ave Maria couldn't have been her last name right? I would think that it's got to signify something- but what? Has anyone seen/heard of this before?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Aliza
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by Michael31 »

www.paginebianche.it

Ave Maria
20093 Cologno Monzese (MI)
Via Giacosa Giuseppe, 2
tel: 02 2536315

Ave Maria Raffaele
80055 Portici (NA)
Via S. Cristoforo
tel: 081 484806

Ave Maria Teresa
30020 Torre Di Mosto (VE)
Via II Giugno, 28
tel: 0421 324074

Ave Veronese Maria
30020 Torre Di Mosto (VE)
Via Molino, 7
tel: 0421 324786

Dalle Ave Anna Maria
36070 Castelgomberto (VI)
Contrada Pilotto, 2
tel: 0445 941162

Dalle Ave Maria
36012 Asiago (VI)
Via Ceresara, 7
tel: 0424 64386

Ferri Maria Ave
42035 Castelnovo Ne' Monti (RE)
Via Maro, 51
tel: 0522 613178
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by Michael31 »

Parrocchia Ave Gratia Plena
80042 Boscotrecase (NA)
Via Annunziatella, 5
tel: 081 8581280

Parrocchia Ave Gratia Plena
80058 Torre Annunziata (NA)
Via P. Pace, 3
tel: 081 8611305

Parrocchia Ave Gratia Plena
80147 Napoli (NA)
Corso Sirena, 272
tel: 081 5727735
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by Michael31 »

Istituto Ave Gratia
84015 Nocera Superiore (SA)
Via Pareti, 104
tel: 081 933214
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by johnnyonthespot »

Possibly the underlining is used to indicate that it is a two-word surname?

Beyond that, I agree that it all seems quite odd...
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by aliza24 »

Thanks, Micheal but I don't know. It's still a mystery. I'm just not sold on this actually being her surname. It doesn't seem to add up.

Why would the first record just have "ave gratia plena" which seems to be more like a prayer or something than a name? And why would the name be underlined?

Oh- and on the first list it does look like there are people with that name but the second list you posted are parishes- so we can't count those.

I know there's got to be a reason- maybe she was a foundling? And they gave her this name at birth? Unfortunately, she was born too early for me to get those records.
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by johnnyonthespot »

It's a minor detail, but "Ave Maria, gratia plena" is a latin phrase meaning "Hail Mary, full of grace".

You didn't mention the year(s) of these records. Are they church records written entirely in latin, very early civil records in latin, or later civil records in italian?
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by aliza24 »

Hi Carmine-

Sorry, so just to clarify: these are civil records in Italian from the early decades of the 1800's.

And about the name- if you check out my original post you'll see that the first time I found her name it was: "ave gratia plena", "hail, full of grace"-

Then on all the other records I found, the name was just "ave maria" (underlined).

This to me seems like a prayer or something- not a name! Unless maybe a nun took her in as a foundling or something and named her that?
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by maestra36 »

Aliza
I was thinking the possibility of a foundling. I know it is at a bit of a distance, but if you search "ave gratia plena" on virgilio.it, you get a reference to the wheel for abandoned children at a facility in Naples.
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by johnnyonthespot »

Yes, I saw what you wrote in the first post; just wanted to sort of tie together the "ave gratia plena" with the later (earlier?) "Ave Maria".
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by johnnyonthespot »

maestra36 wrote:Aliza
I was thinking the possibility of a foundling. I know it is at a bit of a distance, but if you search "ave gratia plena" on virgilio.it, you get a reference to the wheel for abandoned children at a facility in Naples.
Peg
And so, the others with surname "Ave Maria" are not true siblings but other foundlings rescued (and named) by the same orphanage?
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by aliza24 »

This is still puzzling but so far I'd say that the idea of her having been a foundling sounds like the most reasonable explanation.

I know that lots of foundlings were given special names like "hope" or "faith", etc.

But there's one glitch in that theory- if that was in fact her given last name- why the two last names? And why the underlining? Seems that had to have meant something- that they underlined it?
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by maestra36 »

You never know. Don't we have towns where surnames like Esposito were commonly given to foundlings and yet those with that surname in the town are not necessarily related?
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by aliza24 »

I'm assuming that it has to have been some sort of last name, per se, otherwise I don't see why it would be there- do any of you?

In my experience- if a last name is unknown they just leave it blank. I've never seen a record where a last name is filled in with prayer words- or anything else for that matter.

Am I making sense? I hope so! :)
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Re: Surname mystery- "Ave Maria"

Post by maestra36 »

Ave by itself is a rare surname, but when combined with Maria, I can't find any reference to it as a surname
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