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Help[Surname] Scimeca
I met someone, who may be of Italian background, with this name. What does it mean?
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According to the Dictionary UTET of Italian surnames this sicilan surname has no sure origin. It could be a variant of other sicilian surnames like Scimè or Scimemi. The last one could come from a first name like Simone (Simon).
Italian slavic surname are beared mainlyin Abruzzi region, on the adriatic coast, not so much in Sicily and of course in Trieste area or Friuli region.
Italian slavic surname are beared mainlyin Abruzzi region, on the adriatic coast, not so much in Sicily and of course in Trieste area or Friuli region.
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According to the Dictionary UTET of Italian surnames this sicilan surname has no sure origin. It could be a variant of other sicilian surnames like Scimè or Scimemi. The last one could come from a first name like Simone (Simon).
Italian slavic surname are beared mainlyin Abruzzi region, on the adriatic coast, not so much in Sicily and of course in Trieste area or Friuli region.
Italian slavic surname are beared mainlyin Abruzzi region, on the adriatic coast, not so much in Sicily and of course in Trieste area or Friuli region.
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As a matter of fact, a lot of Italian regions have been affected by Slavic immigrations in the past, both on the Adriatic or Eastern coast of Italy (Abruzzo, Marche, Molise, Puglia, etc) and on the hinterland or Western areas of the country (Campania, Basilicata, Sicily, etc). Back in the day there were even some Slavic speaking areas in Italy (mostly on the Adriatic coast), a well-known example is the touristic town of Peschici in Puglia.
As for Italian surnames, you might as well check the distribution of surnames such as Schiavo, Schiavone, Schiavi, Schiavoni, Scavo, Scavone, etc (all of them mean "Slav" in Old Italian), you will see how widespread the Slavic migratory waves were throughout the Italian territory in the past (http://www.gens.labo.net/).
In short, all this doesn't mean that Scimeca is definitely a Slavic-Italian surname but, if you take the ethnical background of Italian people into account, then this theory is not really so unlikely.
As for Italian surnames, you might as well check the distribution of surnames such as Schiavo, Schiavone, Schiavi, Schiavoni, Scavo, Scavone, etc (all of them mean "Slav" in Old Italian), you will see how widespread the Slavic migratory waves were throughout the Italian territory in the past (http://www.gens.labo.net/).
In short, all this doesn't mean that Scimeca is definitely a Slavic-Italian surname but, if you take the ethnical background of Italian people into account, then this theory is not really so unlikely.
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You'll find the origin of Scimeca at http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Scimeca-family-history.ashx
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As a Sicilian surname (from the province of Palermo), Scimeca might also have an old Arbëreshë or Slavic origin, just as a lot of other last names from Palermo area do (you can check the history of the Arbëreshë immigration to Italy at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arb%C3%ABresh%C3%AB_people).
In this case it might come from the Slavic surname Šimek (pronunciation: Shimek), which is just a pet form of the personal name Šimon (English: Simon) through his short form Šime + the diminutive suffix -ek (http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Simek-name-meaning.ashx).
In this case it might come from the Slavic surname Šimek (pronunciation: Shimek), which is just a pet form of the personal name Šimon (English: Simon) through his short form Šime + the diminutive suffix -ek (http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Simek-name-meaning.ashx).
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The Wikipedia link clearly indicates that Arbëreshë is Albanian which is only distantly related to Slavic as you can see at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-european. If Scimeca is indeed from Albanian, which is certainly possible, then the origin can't posibly be from Czech or Croatian Šimek.
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I know but I meant "either Arbëreshë or Slavic", not only Arbëreshë. In Sicily, just as in many other parts of Italy, there are a lot of surnames of Slavic origin too (from North to South of Italy), plus also a lot of Albanian surnames often have an old Slavic origin: there's actually a number of such surnames in Southern Italy, I mean Arbëreshë surnames deriving from a Slavic root.
That's why I took either an Arbëreshë or a Slavic origin into account, even though in this particular case - Scimeca - I guess it is more likely Slavic.
That's why I took either an Arbëreshë or a Slavic origin into account, even though in this particular case - Scimeca - I guess it is more likely Slavic.
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