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Yes. Both spellings. Nothing definitive either way.darkerhorse wrote: ↑25 Aug 2022, 04:00 I noticed some "exact matches" for "Mattia" were actually "Di Mattia". Have you tried that surname too?
I checked the georaphic distribution for Mattia, Di Mattia and De Mattia. The coverage is almost identical for all three spellings.darkerhorse wrote: ↑25 Aug 2022, 04:01 And for "De Mattia".
I guess "exact match" is more robust that I thought.
I'm still playing those various name games. I agree on Giacomo, as it rarely (if at all) came up during my paper trail research. The same goes for Vito, which also seems more common in Sicily. The only other given male first names I have to go on (by paper trail, anyway) are his father, Vito, grandfather Giacomo and GGf Luigi. In addition, Vito had a brother named Lorenzo and Giacomo a brother named Giuseppe (I'm purposely ignoring sisters). I have no info on any brothers for Luigi. No names repeat on paper. Even my grandfather's name of Agostino is no help (although it isn't quite as rare in Valmontone as Vito or Giacomo). He was the only male child of 7 so I assume that name had some significance (he WAS born in August, so I suppose that is a possibility) but except for the direct paternal line any of the names could be connected to the family of the spouse, somehow. Since the paper trail is so limited timewise, I can't even research that to the extent I would like to, but none of the male names repeat in a connectable way so far.darkerhorse wrote: ↑25 Aug 2022, 18:53 In Italy, it appears that Giacomo (exact match) was most prevalent in Sicily until 2000 when it became most prevalent in Lombardia (north) with Sicily second. Of course, that's based only on digitized records.
Back in the 1800s, a given Giacomo was more likely to reside in Sicily than in any place else in Italy. Prior counts are too small to infer from.
I would be concerned that Rome has been such a prominent destination (voluntary and not) for all types of people from all types of places over time that it's nearly impossible to trace in-migration using logical reasoning alone. Having said that, if it was my family I would still play those name games and look for connections.
I was once able to identify a migration flow from an area in Italy to an area in New York State, which helped locate an individual from that area in Italy who also had migrated to that area in NY state in that time period.
Is it possible to test your reasoning and methods on a known individual, family, or town migration?
No records prior to 1871. At that time there were 2 Mattia families in Valmontone, most likely connected prior to those records as I can't tie them together definitively. We were tenant farmers, they were cattle ranchers. Those 2 families expanded exponentially during the years of record, so they both could not have been very deeply rooted in the area.darkerhorse wrote: ↑25 Aug 2022, 20:17 Have you checked these sources:
https://www.familysearch.org/search/cat ... agirone%22
I'm not sure how they'd help.
Such records for Valmontone will be more valuable, if and when digitized.
For example, I've seen Riveli records pre-1800 which indicate the property owner hailed from another place. You may get lucky and be able to trace your family, and/or find a Sicilian (or other) place of origin recorded.
When does your paper trail end again - 1870s?
My Grandfather had a cousin named Attilio in Sicily, but I never heard of any of the other names in Sicily.MarcuccioV wrote: ↑25 Aug 2022, 20:27 Here's where the names have all led (so far):
Armida -- from a Tasso opera, an Arabic sorceress
Attilia -- 2 origins, Etruscan and Turkish
Ersillia -- Greek origin, possibly related to ancient Etruscan
Gentilina -- Hebrew Jewish origin
Vespina -- Maid in the Italian opera 'Veremonda'
Luciano -- Italo/Latin for "light"
Nello -- Hebrew for 'God is my judge'; may have Greek usage
Only commonality I can see is that there really is none, aside from a Mediterranean component...