Baptism Records Naming Conventions?

[sandyman720]

Hi All-

When looking at Baptism records, would the given name be listed any where or would these be all the Catholic names?

For example see the linked image. The first entry. Would this person's given name be Pasquale, Giuseppe, or Diego? Or would it be something totally different?

Thanks!

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cc=1483010

[rjmichaels]

He could have gone by Pasquale, Giuseppe, or Diego. The only way to know for sure is to find how he was referred to in later records. I have not noticed a convention for which name a person went by. I have also seem relatives who immigrated and started using one of their other given names. For example, a relative of mine used one of his given names (Pasquale) in Italy and when he immigrated but then began using another (Giuseppe) after he was over here. Some people went by completely different names in daily life, but that is not reflected in most records. Most also had nicknames which are rarely mentioned in records. I recently obtained a foglio di famiglia for a relative (prepared for the 1931 Census of Italy) that gave the relative's name as: "Massara Mariano detto Giuseppe," meaning Mariano Massara (his birth name), known as Giuseppe. He appears in all other records as Mariano, though.

[Italysearcher]

There is a difference between baptismal and 'administrative' names but much depends on the year.
Napolean decreed that a child could not use his father's name as an 'administrative' name unless he was deceased at time of his son's birth. So, Giuseppe cannot name his son Giuseppe unless he uses Antonio Giuseppe (or similar) on the birth registration. He can call him Peppino (Little Giuseppe) on a daily basis but when he registers him for school or any other purpose such as military of marriage he must declare his name as Antonio Giuseppe. Sometime if the father dies while the son is an infant the son will assume his name (even if it was not used on baptismal or civil records) and this is what you see as 'detto'. Sometimes the assumed name will be that of a relative who died in war etc.