Origin Question?

Question:What are the Origins and Ethnicity's of the last names OGANDO, SARANTE and GILL
by the way im Dominican and cant find the origins of my last names anywhere and its driving me crazy i just want to know my history...can anyone plz help i would really, really appreciate your help...thx

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: What are the Origins and Ethnicity's of the last names OGANDO, SARANTE and GILL
by the way im Dominican and cant find the origins of my last names anywhere and its driving me crazy i just want to know my history...can anyone plz help i would really, really appreciate your help...thx

One place you can start is the email list for Dominican research.
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DOM...
Email lists give you the chance to post questions and get answers via email.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~domwgw/mhhbcgw....
another site..
Probably the one important thing is to 'shift' thinking from looking for your surname, to looking for actual records of your ancestors. (yes, there is a HUGE difference).
Start with the immediate, which is identify your parents, and the facts about them. IN US research, you would normally use birth or death certificates to document your facts... for you, the approach might be different (ie baptism record, so forth). From parents, prove their connection to THEIR parents (using maiden name for the ladies). The purpose of the documentation is critical... it not just verifies, but gives you clues to the next level, and makes SURE that you are hunting the specific persons. You may find at one point that your gr grandfather was born elsewhere, and THAT is where you will head next for records.
The issue with surnames is that they DO NOT always come from just one origin. Just because one surname may come from Spain (for example) does NOT mean your gr grandfather was born there. Thus, you would be wasting your time looking for records in Spain, if your ancestors were born/married/died in France.
YOUR history is your individual ancestors. Sounds like you are going to have the passion to make an excellent researcher.

Sorry I was unable to find anything for the surnames, Oganda and Sarante, but I did find this for the surname Gill,

Gill
English: from a short form of the personal names Giles, Julian, or William. In theory the name would have a soft initial when derived from the first two of these, and a hard one when from William or from the other possibilities discussed in 2–4 below. However, there has been much confusion over the centuries.
Northern English: topographic name for someone who lived by a ravine or deep glen, Middle English gil(l), Old Norse gil ‘ravine’.
Scottish and Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille (Scottish), Mac Giolla (Irish), patronymics from an occupational name for a servant or a short form of the various personal names formed by attaching this element to the name of a saint. See McGill. The Old Norse personal name Gilli is probably of this origin, and may lie behind some examples of the name in northern England.
Scottish and Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac An Ghoill (see Gall 1).
Norwegian: habitational name from any of three farmsteads in western Norway named Gil, from Old Norse gil ‘ravine’.
Dutch: cognate of Giles.
Jewish (Israeli): ornamental name from Hebrew gil ‘joy’.
German: from a vernacular short form of the medieval personal name Aegidius (see Gilger).
Indian (Panjab): Sikh name, probably from Panjabi gil ‘moisture’, also meaning ‘prosperity’.

hope this helps.

The 1910 census of U. S. has 18 Ogando.
17 were born in Puerto Rico and one in Spain. Rootsweb(free site) has 17 entries for Ogando. Once you pull up the site, put Ogando in the World Connect block. You can then probe on a name and it will give you the name and email address of the submitter.

The 1900 Census has one Sarante born in Canada (French) and 1920 census has one born in Puerto Rico.

New York Passenger List has 7, two from Italy, 3 from Greece and no indication where the other two originated.

The same name frequently can come from more than one nationality. Also not everyone with the same surname is necessarily related. The best way to know your heritage is to trace it starting with yourself and working back. Anytime you wish to do this, there are lots of people on this board that can give you some great tips and advice. Just ask.