Italian names

[pangeli]

I have documents that list an ancestor's given name as GioBatta on same documents and GioBattista on other documents. Is GioBatta short for GioBattista? Thanks

[elba]

It's probably a shortened version of Giovanni Battista...

elba

[Incipit]

Sometimes Giobatta has really become a name, but normally it is only the abbreviated version of Giovan Battista, since Giovanni was written Gio. and Battista was written Batt.a.

Pay attention to the interpunction / abbreviation signs:

If you read Giobatta in your document, the name is really Giobatta, but if you see Gio.batt.a, or Gio.Battista, you must read it as Giovanbattista or (older form) Giovanni Battista.

Regards
Tommaso

[pangeli]

Thank you your answer is really informative. I assume that arcangiolo and angiolo are also the same name but the arc version is older. Am I correct? Patricia

[Incipit]

Hi,

No, sorry, Arcangiolo or Arcangelo is not an older version, but simply a longer one, and is different from Angiolo/Angelo.
Infact angels and archangels are not the same thing!
However today in Italy we usually use Angelo as a name.

Regards
Tommaso

[pangeli]

Thanks again. I have a question about surnames that are very similar. My father's surname in Italy is Agnoloni from Tuscany region. There is also a surname Angeloni from this same region. Would these names represent the same family in ancient times? I ask this because my mother's surname is Pinney. Brothers sometimes changed the spelling, that is one would be Pinney another Pinne. Was there such a practice in Italy? Patricia

[Incipit]

Probably it's the same surname in different times, like Angelo=Angiolo=Agnolo.

But sometimes surnames quite similar are totally irrelated...

If you need a research in Tuscany, I suggest you to visit our site:
www.incipitprato.com
we offer a good service at low cost.

Knowing an ancestor name and surname and his origin we usually reach half XVI century without problems

Best Regards
Tommaso

[pangeli]

Hi, I attempted to e-mail your at your business address yesterday and it was returned no such address. The address I used was incipitss@gmail.it. Please send me the correct e-mail or another address so I can submit for an estimate research in the Firenze area. Thanks patricia Angeli

[Incipit]

The correct e-mail address is
incipitss@gmail.com
Sorry, where did you get the other address?

Kindly Regards

Tommaso

[pangeli]

The address is on your website under services

[Incipit]

Sorry for this mistake...
I have yet corrected the eng. homepage

Regards
Tommaso