can anybody help me with these names? both families came through ellis island in the late 1800's. i am just starting this search so i don't have anything else to say yet. i have heard, though, that the name MAURO may have been changed from something more difficult to read and write. i have learned that at ellis island, to make things easier for the new comers, they often changed the spelling of names. and sometimes it was because when the name was spoken, say by an italian to an intake worker at ellis who may have been german, french or any one who was willing to work for the day, the name was written as closely as it could be to what it sounded like. often names were completely slaughtered, altered and changed, and once they were put on paper, it was, as they say, HISTORY. everyone they handed that paper to, called them by their new name and most immigrants didn't know how to hop the language barrier to reclaim their names. my grandfather told me he knew lots of folks who were very unhappy about the fact that they came to america to lose their family history because no one cared to keep it straight. r.