Originally Posted By: Nicholas
Originally Posted By: pizzaboy

Funny you mention that, Hairy. I've seen that name spelled every which way. All I can say is, things happened at Ellis Island. In my own extended family, there are several modern spellings of the name my grandfather came here with.


Originally Posted By: Mark

Same happened with my great grandfather (my grandfather was one year old) when they arrived at Ellis Island. They changed a "C" to a "G" in the last name and that changed everything. I am told that the original last name is "Brocato" from Palermo and it was changed to "Brogato" during immigration. There is a big line of hair care/cosmetics named "Brocato"... Oh well, whatta you gonna do? rolleyes
http://www.brocatohair.com/



I've also seen my own last name going by a few spelling alterations with other people who have it.

One of the many other reasons I love this forum, more Italian-American life talk.


Same here... Not ellis island but same situation... Then our name was messed up again... This time when my grandfather was put in an orphanage.. I mean i can sympethize with the ppl who ran the orphanage i guess.. You try understanding a 4 yr old italian boy holding on to two little brothers who both lost their father... Im just amazed that nearly 80 yrs later we have enough research to show what our last name is.... And now u can even find family trees online that have my great grandfather and relatives still in genoa.. Amazing really.