This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: re rea reale reali reo ria rei corea marea Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/DYB.2ACE/1477 Message Board Post: The Rea surname does not only trace back to Scotland. My own ancestors are from the village of Arpino in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. A common southern Italian surname, it is concentrated in this single small province, where there are some 540 families called Rea. It must be linked to the other Italian surnames, amongst them 'Re', 'Reale', 'Reali', 'Corea', 'Rei', 'Reo', 'Ria', 'Reu'. In Italian, Rea means 'culprit' (feminine), Reo (masculine). When the local wool industry collapsed after the 1800s there was mass emigration across Europe and the Americas. Some settled in the British Isles. Some say the name is originally of Spanish origin, as they ruled southern Italy for a period from 1442 to the 1700s. Many soldiers from the Spanish Armada were shipwrecked off the west coast of Ireland. They press-ganged Italian men into their navy and armies, and this explains some Italian Spanish surnames in Ireland, e.g. Rea, Marra, De Valera, Costa, Costello, Cavanna. (Rea in the Italian context is pronounced 'Ray-a'.) Tony Rea http://mysite.freeserve.com/ancoatslittleitaly/