Arnoldi History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Italy

From the ancient and picturesque Italian region of Venice emerged a variety of distinguished names, including the surname Arnoldi. It became necessary for people to adopt a second name to identify themselves as populations grew and travel became more frequent. The process of adopting fixed hereditary surnames was not complete until the modern era, but the use of hereditary family names in Italy began in the 10th and 11th centuries. Arnoldi is one of the local, or habitational surnames, which were derived from a place-name where the original bearer once resided or held land. Often Italian local surnames bore the prefix "di," which signified emigration from one place to another, but not necessarily nobility. The Arnoldi family lived the personal name Arnoaldi, which is itself derived from the Frankish name "Arnuwalda." The Frankish given name Arnuwald, which is composed of two elements, arnu, which means eagle, and walda, which means powerful, was given to a person who was as powerful as an eagle.

Early Origins of the Arnoldi family

The surname Arnoldi was first found in the cities of Venice and Vicenza where Arnaldo Arnaldi was the first person bearing this surname. Arnaldo from Arezzo, born in 1052, dedicated his life to the church. As a result of his loyalty, Enrico III granted him all imperial concessions to the church in Siena. This meant that Arnaldo could essentially treat the church as his second home.

Early History of the Arnoldi family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Arnoldi research. Another 64 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1358, 1364, 1465, 1532, 1613, 1640, 1721, 1724 and 1750 are included under the topic Early Arnoldi History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Arnoldi Spelling Variations

Italian surnames come in far more variations than the names of most other nationalities. Regional traditions and dialects are a decisive factor in this characteristic. For example, northern names tend to end in "o", while southern in "i". Also important, but not unique to Italy, was the fact that before dictionaries and the printing press most scribes simply spelled words according to their sounds. The predictable result was an enormous number of spelling variations. The recorded spellings of Arnoldi include Arnaldi, Arnaldo, Arnao, Arnaud, Arnaudi, Arnaudo, Arno, Arnold, Arnoldi and many more.

Early Notables of the Arnoldi family

Prominent among members of the family was

Alberto Arnoldi (or di Arnoldo) (fl 1364) an Italian sculptor and architect from Florence, know for his colossal sculpture of the Madonna and Child with two angels for the Loggia del Bigallo in Floren...
Bartholomaeus Arnoldi, OSA (1465-1532), an Augustinian friar and doctor of divinity who taught Martin Luther but later turned against him into his earliest and one of his personally closest opponents

Arnoldi migration to the United States +

Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the name Arnoldi or a variant listed above:

Arnoldi Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Johannes Arnoldi, who landed in New York, NY in 1710 1
John Arnoldi, who arrived in New York in 1715 1

Arnoldi Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Jean Arnoldi, aged 28, who arrived in New York, NY in 1847 1
Luise Arnoldi, who landed in North America in 1866 1
Mrs. Karl Friedr Arnoldi, who arrived in North America in 1873 1
Miss Arnoldi, who landed in North America in 1881 1

Contemporary Notables of the name Arnoldi (post 1700) +

Katherine Arnoldi (b. 1951), American writer and graphic novelist
Katie Arnoldi (b. 1959), American fiction writer and former bodybuilder, known for her three novels, Chemical Pink (Bloomsbury, 2001), The Wentworths (Overlook, 2008), and Point Dume (Overlook, 2010)
Walter Edwin Arnoldi (1917-1995), American engineer who developed the Arnoldi iteration, an eigenvalue algorithm used in numerical linear algebra
Charles "Chuck" Arnoldi (b. 1946), American painter, sculptor and printmaker
Dr. Daniel Arnoldi (1774-1849), Canadian physician, the first president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Lower Canada (1847-1849) and the second president of the German Society of Montreal (1840-1849)
Constantin Arnoldi (1901-1982), Russian entomologist, son of Vladimir Arnoldi
Vladimir Mitrofanovich Arnoldi (1871-1924), Russian writer of children's books and professor of biology
Per Arnoldi (b. 1941), Danish designer and artist, best known for designing the logo and curtains of the Copenhagen Opera House

Citations +

Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)