Arata in Bay Area, California

[bbaaarata]

Hi there. I am looking to try and figure out some family mysteries. Thought I might reach out here and see if anyone can assist. My great grandpa was a man named Ernest Arata (born 1893 in Antioch, CA). His father was named Eugenio Arata (born 1868 in Orero, Genoa). I am trying to find any and all info on these two men and their lineage. I found another woman on 23&Me with a father named Daniel/Dellio Arata (born 1914 in San Francisco). His father looks to be a man named Bartolomeo Arata (born 1873 in Croce di Orero). Trying to see if there is any relation between the two families. I've looked around on Ancestry a bit but haven't found too much in terms of relating the two. I'd assumed there must be a relation given the names and the regions they're from.

[PippoM]

Here is a possible birth record for Eugenio Arata:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... at=2387846

He married Maria Onorina Arata in 1891.
As you can see if you look in the index, Arata was the most popula surname in Orero, so, it's hard to say if there's a relation to Bartolomeo.

[bbaaarata]

Yes, his wife was Onorina.

Do you have any insight into why Arata was the most popular last name? Was it normal for certain last names to be so popular in Italy during that time?

[PippoM]

As I'm not English mother tongue, maybe I used the word "popular" uncorrectly?

[bbaaarata]

I think you used it correctly. You meant it as in it was one of the more common surnames in Orero, yes?

[PippoM]

Yes, that's what I meant. So, i could not understand the question.
However, some towns have some very common surnames, and they were very peculiar, expecially until the 19th century.
Then, people started to move around a lot.

[ffusiak]

I looked in GenealogyBank and found a number of articles on Ernest Arata. I do not know if this is your man but I posted some of the articles here - https://imgur.com/gallery/hBaWGDA

[bbaaarata]

Those don’t appear to be the same Ernest, however those all were interesting reads! Thanks for sharing, nonetheless.