Hello Daphne, I really appreciate you taking the time to give me some suggestions. I've gone over the name EROTY/EROTTI (the two versions I have that are similar) and then I have a certificate where it looks like ERUTH, which is quite different. To date I haven't found the name on any Census. I am trying to find a source to purchase the 1861 Clerkenwell Census fiche to go through that just in case the family did settle in that area where I'm told many Italians did go. The only documentation I have are ggmother's two marriage certificates (she survived two husbands) and the birth certificates for her 7 children. I see your point about loosing the M from MAROTTA and variants, your idea sounds quite right too. I have checked a couple of variants beginning with A or AI and your other A(y)....... suggestions looks like a good one to keep an eye open for. This is just the kind of infomration I need too, for someone else to give an idea of how they interpret the name through pronouncing it. I've tried it so many times but I lost my true English accent a long time ago and now I mostly have an Australian accent (where my family immigrated too when I was 5 yrs old). I now live in Canada and my children, when I speak with them on the phone tell me I'm loosing my Aussie accent. So, the use of vowels in speech for me is somewhat mixed up, none of which give me much idea how an Englishman of the 1850's - 1860's would say the name! The first time ggm appears in the census is after she is married and she had given London as her place of birth. No, I don't have any reason to hone in on the variation of MAROTTA. I just saw it in the list of the Italians in Devon, where my ggm married and lived her life out. The modern day ERROTTI's are 3 living around Naples. I'm hoping one will answer my letters but as discussed on the list, it may not happen. So, Daphne, the search goes on and I do thank you for your time and suggestions. I'd be happy to hear of any more. Cheers, Diane -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Dashfield [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2002 4:49 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Anglo-Italian] MAROTTA > Hello Listers, In an act of desperation, I'm asking if anyone on the list > can possibly see the name EROTTI as a corruption of MAROTTA, or vice versa! I think you have to think of handwriting interpretations (of the transcriber) when you look at census indexes as well as phonetic spelling (including using letter names as sounds) used by the census enumerator. I suppose "Um, EROTTI" could just become MAROTTE which could be mistranscribed as MAROTTA. However I can't see how "M" could be lost from MAROTTA. Unless they were thought to say Um, Ah-rowt-tah - except it would have to be A(y)ro(w)tte(e) to make Erotti (hope I got the vowels right). I can see how my family's name GHIRARDANI became GERADINE and even with a census transcription error and a poor enumerator, GLARINI ("e" replaced by "l by the transcriber) but "M" is a large letter not easily lost. EROTTI could become AROTE or even AYWROTEY?! Do you have any events such as baptism or marriage near 1881 to give possible addresses? That's how I found my gg grandfather and remaining family masquerading as a GLARINI in Bakers Row, Clerkenwell in the 1881 index . I've yet to view the film of the original census notebook which I suspect is GEARINI. I don't think that enumerator had a good ear for Italian names/spelling (I have another example of a relative in the same street) and I know my gg grandfather couldn't sign his name at my g grandfather's marriage in 1876 so he wouldn't be able to help much. At least some priests could spell! Is there a particular reason why it might be Marotta? I've lost track of where EROTTI came from now. Daphne Dashfield (Geradine) GHIRADANI + ~15 spelling variations ==== ANGLO-ITALIAN Mailing List ==== Inaugural Meeting of the Anglo-Italian Family History At the SOG Fair at 3pm For the venue address look at http://www.dreamwater.net/anglersrest/Italian.htm ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237