Italian Surnames Changed at Ellis Island: The Truth About Your Family Name

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Millions of Italian-Americans carry surnames that look different from their Italian cousins. The popular story blames Ellis Island officers. But the truth is more interesting than the myth.

This guide explains what really happened to Italian surnames changed at Ellis Island — and what actually changed them. It also shows you how to trace your family’s original name.

The Ellis Island Myth: What Really Happened

You have probably heard this story. An Italian immigrant arrives at Ellis Island. A tired officer scribbles down the wrong spelling. The family is stuck with a changed name forever.

It is a compelling story. But it is mostly wrong.

Ellis Island employed interpreters who spoke Italian. They stood at inspection desks to help process passengers. Officers also worked from ship manifests — passenger lists prepared before departure in Italy. These lists recorded names exactly as written in Italian civil documents.

Officers copied names from those manifests. They did not invent new spellings at the desk.

The myth persists because it gives a simple answer to a real question. Italian surnames did change in America. They just changed for different reasons — and mostly after Ellis Island.

If your family name changed, you can trace the original. Our complete guide to tracing Italian ancestry covers every step of the research process.

Why Italian Surnames Actually Changed in America

Italian immigrants often changed their own names

Integration was hard in early 20th century America. Italian immigrants faced discrimination in housing and employment. A name that sounded more American helped in practical ways.

Giovanni became John. Vincenzo became Vincent. Salvatore became Sam. These were deliberate choices. They were not officer errors.

Many families made this decision in the first years after arrival. A name like Giuseppe was hard for American neighbours and employers to say. Changing it to Joe solved an immediate problem.

Local officials sometimes misspelled names

After Ellis Island, immigrants dealt with county clerks, draft boards, census takers, and school registrars. These officials had no interpreters. They wrote down what they heard.

A thick Calabrian accent could turn Mauro into Morrow. Scigliano could become Shelly. This is where real spelling errors entered the record. Not at Ellis Island — but in every American town where Italian families settled.

Second-generation immigrants changed names themselves

Children born in America often changed their surnames in their teens or twenties. They wanted to fit in. A name like Delfino became Delphin. Ferrante became Ferrand.

Some names stayed unchanged because they were already easy to pronounce. Esposito, Russo, and Bruno required no adjustment for American ears.

Common Patterns of Italian Surname Change

Understanding how names changed helps you search for the original. There are four main patterns.

Anglicisation

Italian surnames often begin with prefixes like De, Di, La, Lo, or Del. In America, these were sometimes joined to the main name or dropped entirely.

• De Luca became DeLuca or Deluca
• Di Marco became DeMarco or Demarco
• La Bianca became Bianca or LeBlanc
• Lombardo became Lombard

Truncation

Italian surnames often end in -i, -o, -a, or -e. American officials sometimes dropped these endings.

• Ferrero became Ferrer
• Marino became Marin
• Gentile became Gentil
• Sorrentino became Sorrentin

Translation into English

Some families replaced their surname with the English meaning. This gave the clearest break from the original.

• Rossi (red-haired) became Ross
• Piccolo (small) became Little or Small
• Fabbri (blacksmith) became Smith
• Castellano (castle-dweller) became Castle

If your American surname has no obvious Italian connection, check its meaning. It may be a direct translation of an Italian original.

Phonetic respelling by local officials

This is where real errors happened — just not at Ellis Island. Local clerks wrote what they heard.

• Scardino became Skardino or Cardino
• Chiodo became Quodo or Coda
• Coppola became Capola or Copple

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How Ellis Island Actually Worked

The registration process at Ellis Island took about three to five hours per immigrant. Inspectors checked names against the ship’s passenger manifest.

Steamship companies prepared these manifests in the port of departure — Naples, Palermo, or Genoa. Each manifest listed the passenger’s name as recorded in their Italian travel documents. This was usually drawn from civil records or a baptismal certificate from their comune.

A typical 1905 manifest entry for someone named Giuseppina De Filippo would read exactly that. The Ellis Island clerk copied it. The name went into the American record unchanged.

Once immigrants moved into American daily life, each new bureaucratic interaction was a chance for the name to shift. A school register, a factory payroll sheet, a local church record — any of these could introduce a small error that became permanent.

Our guide to Italian immigration records explains how to search ship manifests and passenger lists with variant spellings.

Italian Surnames by Region: Common Transformations

Each Italian region contributed its own patterns of surname change. Italy was not linguistically unified until the 20th century. Immigrants from Sicily carried very different sounds from those arriving from Veneto or Piedmont.

Sicily

Sicilian surnames carry Arabic, Greek, and Norman influences. These sounds were hard for American officials to transcribe.

• Sciortino became Shorten or Scortino
• Riggio became Riggi or Ridge
• La Rosa became Larosa or Rose
• Bongiorno became Bongiorni or Bonjorno

Families from the comuni of Agrigento, Caltanissetta, and Trapani often had surnames with Arab-influenced prefixes. These were frequently shortened in America. Read more about Italian surnames of Sicily.

Campania (Naples region)

Neapolitan surnames reflect centuries of Spanish and Norman influence. Names with De or Di prefixes were often joined into single words in America.

• De Filippo became DeFilippo or Delphin
• Di Matteo became DiMatteo or Demaio
• Napolitano became Napoli or Naples

Esposito stayed largely unchanged. Its meaning refers to foundlings left at church doors, and it was already easy for Americans to say. Read more about Italian surnames from Campania.

Calabria

Calabrian families, particularly from the provinces of Cosenza and Reggio Calabria, had names with Occitan and Albanian roots.

• Strangio (meaning stranger) became Strange or Strang
• Gerace (hawk in the local dialect) became Geraci or Grace
• Mancuso became Mancuse

A specific tradition worth noting: Calabrian families in many villages of the Sila plateau added the mother’s maiden name as a second surname for children. When American officials recorded only one name, the choice was sometimes arbitrary. The second surname occasionally became the family’s permanent American name. Read more about Italian surnames of Calabria.

How to Find Your Original Italian Surname

Start with ship passenger manifests

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation has digitised over 50 million records. Names are indexed as written on the original manifests. Search at libertyellisfoundation.org.

If you cannot find your family name, try the first four or five letters. Use a “sounds like” option if available. Italian names often have multiple English spellings.

FamilySearch.org also holds Italian immigration records at no cost. Its fuzzy matching helps with spelling variations.

Use the Antenati portal for Italian records

The Italian national archive portal, Antenati, provides free access to millions of Italian civil records from 1866 onwards. Parish records are also available for many regions.

Search for your ancestor’s comune first. If you know they came from Altamura in Puglia, search Altamura’s civil records directly. The original surname as used in Italy will appear in birth, marriage, and death records.

Our guide to Italian genealogy websites includes a full walkthrough of the Antenati portal and other free tools.

Search parish records for pre-1866 families

Before civil registration began in 1866, local parishes kept baptismal, marriage, and burial records. These go back to the 16th century in many regions.

Many Italian-American families find that their surname in parish records looks different from their civil record version. Regional dialects affected spelling across Italy for centuries. This variation is normal and can help you confirm that different spellings refer to the same family line.

Learn more in our guide to Italian parish records.

DNA Testing and Changed Surnames

DNA testing can confirm Italian ancestry even when surnames have changed completely. Y-DNA testing traces the paternal line across generations. Italian surnames traditionally passed through the male line, making this particularly useful.

A test through AncestryDNA or 23andMe can match you with Italian relatives who still carry the original surname. Even if your family is now called Smith — translated from Fabbri — your DNA matches may include relatives named Fabbri living in Campania or Puglia today.

Autosomal DNA tests reach back four to six generations. This covers most Italian-American families who arrived between 1880 and 1924. Our guide to Italian ancestry DNA testing explains which test to choose and how to read your results.

Connecting with Italian Relatives Under the Original Name

Once you know the original Italian spelling, finding living relatives becomes more direct. Italian phone directories are searchable online. Facebook groups for specific Italian villages and surnames are active and well-used.

Italian comune offices hold current and historical records of all residents with a given surname. A letter to the comune’s anagrafe (registry office) — written in Italian, or with help from a genealogist — can sometimes bring a response within weeks.

Some Italian families actively maintain contact with their American branches. They know the names have changed. When you search for your original surname, you may be reaching a cousin who has been wondering about the American side for years.

Our guide to finding Italian relatives today walks through each practical step.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Ellis Island officers really change Italian surnames?

Very rarely. Ellis Island officers used ship manifests as reference documents. These manifests recorded names as written in Italy before departure. Officers also had Italian-speaking interpreters at inspection stations. Most surname changes happened after Ellis Island, through contact with American clerks, employers, school registrars, and neighbours.

How do I find my family’s original Italian surname?

Start with ship passenger manifests at the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation website. Then search Italian civil records through the Antenati portal. If you know your ancestor’s comune, search its records directly. Church parish records, which predate civil registration, often show the original spelling most clearly.

What are the most common ways Italian surnames changed in America?

The four main patterns are anglicisation (replacing Italian sounds with English ones), truncation (removing Italian endings like -i or -o), translation (replacing the Italian word with its English meaning), and phonetic respelling by local American officials. Most families experienced a mix of these.

Can I still claim Italian dual citizenship if my surname changed?

Yes. Italian dual citizenship through jure sanguinis does not require you to use the original surname. You apply as a descendant of an Italian citizen, regardless of your current name. You will need to document the chain of names across generations. A genealogist experienced in Italian dual citizenship can help build this documentation.

You Might Also Enjoy

• How to Trace Your Italian Ancestry – Step-by-Step Guide for Americans
• Why Your Italian Ancestors Left Italy: The Story of the Great Emigration
• Italian Naming Traditions: How Your Ancestors Named Their Children

Plan Your Italy Trip: Ready to visit the village your family came from? Our Ultimate Italy Travel Guide helps you plan every step of the journey.

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