Hi everyone!
I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight into the Italian surname De Titta. From what I can tell it's not a very common last name and is limited to the area of Chieti in Abruzzo. From what I've seen online it seems to be a nickname or shortened form of the name Di Battista referring to John the Baptist.
Also, sort of unrelated. In my family the surname De Titta survived correctly spelled from Italy to America unlike so many others that were butchered upon arrival, but for some unknown reason my great-grandfather started going by the last name De Tetta halfway through his life. I don't know if it was illiteracy or a clerical error or his own choice, but he kept the name and passed it down to all of his children and grandchildren. He was fluent in Italian, so he would have known that his new last name know meant essentially "of tit" instead of what it meant before, so I'm not sure why he went by that name although it's possible that he might have been illiterate in Italian. My grandfather said that it might have been a mistake that he didn't see as worth fixing since living in America it might have been easier to have a last name that actually meant "tit" in Italian than one that looked like "tit" in English.
I've run into a few other Italian last names that refer to body parts or lude acts, so just how much would "De Tetta" be made fun of in Italy? Would it not phase people like some of these other last names or would people immediately start snickering?
I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight into the Italian surname De Titta. From what I can tell it's not a very common last name and is limited to the area of Chieti in Abruzzo. From what I've seen online it seems to be a nickname or shortened form of the name Di Battista referring to John the Baptist.
Also, sort of unrelated. In my family the surname De Titta survived correctly spelled from Italy to America unlike so many others that were butchered upon arrival, but for some unknown reason my great-grandfather started going by the last name De Tetta halfway through his life. I don't know if it was illiteracy or a clerical error or his own choice, but he kept the name and passed it down to all of his children and grandchildren. He was fluent in Italian, so he would have known that his new last name know meant essentially "of tit" instead of what it meant before, so I'm not sure why he went by that name although it's possible that he might have been illiterate in Italian. My grandfather said that it might have been a mistake that he didn't see as worth fixing since living in America it might have been easier to have a last name that actually meant "tit" in Italian than one that looked like "tit" in English.
I've run into a few other Italian last names that refer to body parts or lude acts, so just how much would "De Tetta" be made fun of in Italy? Would it not phase people like some of these other last names or would people immediately start snickering?