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Question: Are Italian surnames often the names of villages!?
My Swiss Italian great grandfather had the last name Cori, like the village of Cori outside of Rome!. Now I found out that di Cori is a Roman Jewish name, and also my grandmother's Cori seal ring includes a star like a star of David!. I don't want to leap to conclusions yet so I wonder if it was also common for Italian Christians to take surnames from village names!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Yes - Leonardo da Vinci etc!. also in France!. I saw your other question about the ring and don't blame you for not jumping as the Star is just added to the Arms of Cori!. It could be taken to symbolize Jews coming from Cori, but it may not!. The star may mean something different in that area!. If possible it might be worth trying to contact a museum or library in Cori and sending them a mail or letter in English in the hope they will be able to help, or else get somebody who speaks Italian to compose a simply put question for you and post it in the Italian section of Yahoo Answers! Or post one there in English!

A Cori history re-enactment group site!. Usually these kind of people know lots!!!
http://www!.sbandieratoridicori!.it/cori%2!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Italian surnames are often based on geography, like Cori after a town, or Capodimonte, after the top of a mountain!. Most Europeans follow the same pattern!.

Other names can be based on a feature or occupation, like "Gallo" which means "chicken"!.

The third major grouping is based on occupation - I can't think of an Italian example at the moment, but an English example would be "Tailor" or the German equivalent "Schneider"!.

Jewish people in Europe often took European names (much like today, where certain sects of Jews have an "inside' name in Hebrew and an outside name like "Sean")!. Usually, European Jews change the spelling of the European name (as in reversing the e-i to i-e in the name "Schnieder")!. Other subtle differences occur, since medieval Jews were better educated than their European counterparts, they could see the difference in the writing!.

As far as your granma's ring - the six-pointed star *might* be a reference to the Star of David, or not!. Many families used six-pointed stars in their heraldry who had no jewish ties!.

You might need to go to Cori and ask around!. That would be quite an adventure!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Surnames often come from the old habit of "john from london" to distinguish from "john from lincolnshire" (just using England as sample)!. I am sure the practice is possible in other countries!. You can't say for sure, without going way way back!. I believe "di" would be equivalent to "de", which translates into "from"!.
So!.!. if that is true, John may be the ancestor, who was ORIGINALLY from Cori, hundreds of years back!.!. but the word "from" would suggest that he MOVED and settled elsewhere!.
In the US, we tend to think the opposite direction, but that is because by the time we were being settled, surnames were already standard!. This way, if John Smith was the first settler in a village!.!. then it was normal to name the village Smithtown in his honor!.
I would also say that it can be true that neither of the above, MIGHT be the case!. Cori could be a neutral word, which when translated, happens to be a descriptive term that led to the surname, at the same time that the description was given to the town/ village!.!. and never had anything to do with the family/surname itself!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yes they are!.

I married into the Italian community and my surname is the same as the Italian spelling of the 12th century Firenze Italy!.

We have lots of Italian relatives and friends from all over Italy and Sicily and I would say about 99% of them have surnames of the villages that they originated from!.
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