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Re: Cammarata, Camiolo ...meanings and origins
They are both from Sicily, but now they have spread in many italian regions an abroad.
Cammarata ranks 14,963 in USA and 4,450 in France, this is not too bad!
Camiolo is less popular both in Italy and abroad.
the origin of CAMMARATA is clear, it comes from a name of a town
Cammarata (Agrigento province) in Western Sicily.
The name of a town is of greek origin like many sicilian place and indicate a "room with a vault" , see italian "camera".
The origin of CAMIOLO is not clear! could it be a variant of CAMO, another sicilian surname (see also CAMINO, rare in Sicily).
In Northern Italy there is a municipality called CAMO, but it is too far from Sicily (1500 km)
In old italian "CAMO" was a sort of cloth. So Camo and Camiolo could it be a nickname of a merchant selling this cloth? Difficult to say.
Unless it is a name coming from sicilian dialects like for instance:
Guttuso (sad person), Caruso (apprentice),Mancuso (left-handed),Mangiaracina (eat-grapes), Buda (a name of a grass used to bottom with woven straw the chairs).
But the influence of sicilian dialect on surnames is not so important
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Thanks!
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