double last name?

[Sirena]

After my GF naturalized, he used DeMeo as his last name. Prior to that in Italy and here, his full last name was officially D'onorio DeMeo. I was not aware that anyone used 2 separate names as a last name in Italy. Also, there are many in the town who use just DeMeo who are not related. I thought at first that one of them belonged to his mother's family (as in Spanish tradition) but it's nowhere close. Has anyone else come across this?

[JohnArmellino]

A family nickname or sopranome was often used to differentiate one family line from another, as when there were many branches of the same family in a comune. It was also used on occasion when a new family moved into a comune and an existing family of that comune already carried the same surname. The use of a sopranome differentiated the new family from the existing family. Sometimes the word detto (also known as) was used to separate the two names. The use of a sopranome dates all the way back to the Romans, who used a nome, a cognome, and a sopranome. For example, Gaius Julius Caesar (nome-cognome-sopranome).

[nazca]

Good morning Sirena,

My GGM, Concetta Davola Freda, like your GF used the first part of her surname (Davola) as his last name. The second part of surname was the the surname of her mother. In Italy the double surname was also used when two noble family get a marriage, and the the children was christened with a double surname.

best regards

Vincenzo

[Sirena]

Very Interesing. Thank you both.

[nuccia]

Yes, I agree! Very interesting. Its always nice to learn something new.

[uprisebobm]

Hello. I'm guessing sopranome is rare these days, I don't really see any other than my family(D'Onorio DeMeo). That makes sense though. Thanks for the post!