[TI] [Fwd: Help with names and database]

[Gloria Otto]

Janet

We had many men called Frank in my family. "Frank" was totally unrelated to their given names, in many cases. Mr great uncle went from Antonino Scolaro to Frank Russo.  A more acepatable, more American, less Italian name.  He was the first Italian family in a WASP community. 

My grandfather went from Francesco Gugliuzza to John Grill (his mother was Maria Grillo),  - his family was living with Frank Russo and I am guessing that is the reason he chose the name John instead of the more logical name Frank. My Dad went from Luciano Gugliuzza to Frank Grill; that  took some explaining since there were English Grill's in town who did not appreciate that..  I had a cousin Frank Tassey; never did find out what his real name was.

My Dad's brothers were Jack and John ; two versions of John. Their brother Sam was originally Salvatore. In the early 1900's it was common among some Italians to have more Americanized names so they could more easily move ahead in business, especially in a small WASP town, Toronto, Ohio. Whereas, Steubenville, OH was a little Chicago so a lot of people kept their original names. But this is not always true. Any one please add your comments. thanks.

Gloria