52 Ancestors Week 23: Father's Day

 From Amy Johnson Crow: In the US, Father's Day is this coming Sunday (June 20), so what better time to have the theme of "Father's Day"?

Yet another album cover!

      On Father's Day, my brother and I would take our dad out to eat at one of his favorite Italian restaurants. We'd eat, have a good time and of course I'd give him that tie he always wanted. It was always one of those Jerry Garcia "Grateful Dead" ties. He likes those ties and I can't say that I blame him. They're cool! With things opening up again as of June 2021, we are probably going to return to one of our favorite Italian places in town and eat the food of our ancestors....even though we had chicken cacciatore the other night!

Y-DNA Fan chart by Greg Clarke.

        As you might have guessed, my patrilineal line is pretty solidly Italian. The Ferraiolo family has been in the town of San Pietro a Maida for centuries with names like Marco and Vincenzo alternating with almost every generation. That's cool and all. But, what about the last name "Ferraiolo"? What does that mean? How do you pronounce it?!

    I've been asked that question my whole life and I admit I might have annoyed some substitute teachers in my day as they struggled to pronounce my last name. My classmates would try to get me to correct them. Instead, I would wait for just the right moment to explain my last name. The pronunciation really isn't that hard. It's not like it's Rumpelstiltskin or DC's  Mr. Mxyzptlk. It's actually a fairly common Italian last name believe it or not!

    Using Cognomix, you can see just how spread out "Ferraiolo" is in Italy. If you click on Calabria, you can then see how many families have that surname in San Pietro. Okay. That's all well and good, Chris, you say. How do you pronounce it?! It's really easy. You need to roll the "r"s and make the "a" silent. So, it's pronounced like "Fehr-e-oh-low". Here's a video explaining just how that works!

Marco Ferraiolo

    Now that we know how to pronounce my last name and how to potentially steal my fantastic superpowers, what's next? What is the origin of the name? There's actually two definitions of "Ferraiolo". The first one is that a ferraiolo is a form of priestly vestments worn by Cardinals and various other members of the clergy. It's sort of like a cape. I admit it's not the coolest definition out there. But, it is one of the definitions of ferraiolo. The second one is much cooler. MUCH cooler, indeed.

    When I was growing up, I would ask my father what our last name meant. He told me that it meant "iron worker". That made sense to me in my mind because "Ferro" is Latin for iron. This means that I descend from people who made suits of armor in a cave with a bunch of scraps! Eh, I wish. With my luck, my incredibly ancient ancestors came up with the last name "Ferraiolo" after an unfortunate smelting accident.

    Italian last names tend to be varied as they can be based on birds, insects and even ethnic groups. After all, Tedesco means German in Italian. Some names even refer to abandoned children and even orphans. These would be names like "Esposito" and "Di'gnoti". 

Vincenzo Ferraiolo

     There's actually another variant of "Ferraiolo" and it's a little hard to explain. The last name is "Ferrauolo". How is this different from "Ferraiolo"? There is literally no difference at all according to this website. The website does go on to describe the last name's incredibly ancient origin, though.  Apparently, it all started in Padova, Italy(Padua in English) in the 200s AD and from there it spread throughout what is now Italy.

    People with each of the two spelling variants eventually made their way to America. When my great-grandfather, Vincenzo, arrived in 1913 there was actually a bit of an error on the ship manifest because he was listed as "Vincenzo Ferrajolo". It was probably a stray mark of some kind. The error then led to a transcription error on Ancestry and Familysearch. It's a bit annoying to see. The document was still found and that's what matters. Either way, the last name WAS NOT CHANGED AT ELLIS ISLAND! 

    That still doesn't mean the name wasn't misspelled in various documents like the United States Census. It totally was in the censuses for Haverhill, Massachusetts. The family name was spelled "Feriraiolo" in the 1930 census and "Ferriolo" in the 1940. It'll no doubt continue to be misspelled for some time to come. As long as it's spelled correctly on important documents, right?!

Marco and Cammie

    So, that's what's in a name. It's a last name that's been passed down for centuries and it has a decent origin. My father's last name actually inspired me to look up what the meanings are of other names in my family tree. Not just the Italian ones. French names like "Hamel", "Legault" and "Laplante" surely have interesting stories behind them as well. "Felker" apparently has German origins. That line's been in America for centuries. But, that's another blog for another time. After all, I'd have to dig through Quebec and ultimately France to find those origins!

    Father's Day is also a good day to talk to your father about your last name if he's still around. If he is, ask him questions about your last name's origin. You might find some cool stories like I did. Or you might find something less than stellar. It doesn't matter. The last name is yours unless you legally decide to change it. If he isn't around, do some research. You might be surprised with what you find!

See ya next time! And I guess the truth is…..I am Iron Man. ;)