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Re: giacomo patriciano
Patriziano is an Italian surname; I don't think the spelling Patriciano occurs. The spelling may have changed in the course of the name being written in both Roman and Greek letters.
Giacomo is certainly Italian. What is the Greek equivalent, Yakovos, Yakoumis?
1756 seems a long time ago for a grandfather - do you mean ancestor?
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Dear Jim Young,
i am confused beceause i found as last name Patriziano in italian, but also i found Patriciano in spanish. In Italy there is a village near Trieste, Padriciano. As you said about the wrong spelling, i am sure that every priest wrote the names in different way. From the archives of catholic church in Santorini i arrived to Giacomo Patriciano in 1756 from the family tree and in a document from the wedding book just the this (1731, Antonius Niceta Patriciano cum .....). I think that the name Niceta isnt so italian. I cant find other elements in order to connect my granfather (yes thats true he is an ancestor in fact)with his past and origins, He was a pirate, a captain, a priest, a crusador ?? he was the first of the family in the island ??? Why and from where he left ???
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Your mention of Catholic archives suggests that there was an Italian community on Santorini in the I8th century. I know that the Island was once under Venetian control, but that was much earlier. I don't know, perhaps there was a Venetian community that survived after the Island passed from Venetian rule. If so, perhaps your ancestor was a merchant trading between Italy and the Greek islands of the Aegean, or even with the Ottoman Empire.
Niceta looks like it might have originated in the Greek name Aniketas, though in a form familiar to Italians.
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Something I've just found out - Niceta is an Italian surname, though the spelling Nicita is more common. Both forms are mainly Sicilan, Niceta in the west of the island, Nicita in the East. The name does come from the Greek, and the Greek influence in Sicily and the Italian south (Magna Graecia) is strong.
Here's a thought, though not one I have much faith in. Patriziano could be title indicative of status, 'patrician'. So Antonius would be surnamed Niceta, and of patrician status. In time the title replaces the surname.
The strongest argument against this idea is that I would expect 'patrician' to be written in a church register in Latin, i.e., 'patricius'.
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