Dona History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Italy

The distinguished surname Dona originated in an area of Italy, known as the Papal States. Although people were originally known only by a single name, it became necessary for people to adapt 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. Italian hereditary surnames were developed according to fairly general principles and they are characterized by a profusion of derivatives coined from given names. Although the most traditional type of family name found in the region of the Papal States is the patronymic surname, which is derived from the father's given name, local surnames are also found. Local names, which are the least frequent of the major types of surnames found in Italy, are derived from a place-name where the original bearer once resided or held land. Often Italian local surnames bore the prefix "di," which signifies emigration from one place to another, but does not necessarily denote nobility. The Dona family lived in the city of Assisi in 1160.

Early Origins of the Dona family

The surname Dona was first found in the region of Umbria, where earliest records show that a Donato lived in the city of Assisi in 1160 and was of the Guelph faction.

Early History of the Dona family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Dona research. The years 1458, 1509, 1580 and 1603 are included under the topic Early Dona History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Dona 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 Dona include Donato, Donati, Dona, De Donato, De Dona, Di Donato, Donatelli, Donatello, Donatini, Donadini, Donatoni, Donadoni and many more.

Early Notables of the Dona family

Prominent among members of the family was

Corso Donati, involved in the Florentine government during the 13th century, who was considered to be one of the most popular and reformist politicians for 25 years. Simone Donati of Florence was an o...
Amerigo Donati was a soldier in Florence
Alamanno Donati, born in Florence in 1458, became a prominent poet
Clemente Donati was a publisher in Urbino during the 15th century
Tommaso Donati was a poet and became mayor of Messina in 1509
Bernardo Donato was from a wealthy family of counts in Verona and became a teacher
Giovan Paolo Donati was a famous painter in L'Aquila around 1580
Alessandro Donati was a teacher in Siena at this time
Baldassare Donato was a 16th century composer and singer in the Venetian cathedral of San Marco
Sigismondo d'Antonio Donati of Correggio was a knight in Tuscany and became bishop of Venosa in 1603

Dona migration to the United States +

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

Dona Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Martin Dona, who arrived in America in 1812 1

Dona Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Clement Dona, aged 22, who landed in America from Austria, in 1900
Fedele Dona, aged 21, who immigrated to the United States from Fondo, Italy, in 1908
Germano Dona, aged 20, who landed in America from Brez, Italy, in 1908
Francesco Dona, aged 42, who immigrated to the United States from Fondo, Italy, in 1909
Attilio Dona, aged 37, who immigrated to the United States from Garbagna, Piedmont, in 1909
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Dona (post 1700) +

Cristina Donà (b. 1967), Italian singer and songwriter
Davy Dona (b. 1981), French gold medalist karateka at the 2003 European Karate Championships
Dona Ruth Anne Torr (1883-1957), British Marxist historian and major influence on the Communist Party Historians Group
Dona Cadman (b. 1950), Canadian politician, Member of Parliament for Surrey North (2008-2011)
Dona Teresa Cristina (1822-1889), Empress consort of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil from 1831 to 1889, nicknamed "the Mother of the Brazilians"
Dona Ann McAdams (b. 1954), American photographer
Dona Speir (b. 1964), American model
Dona R. Stebbins, American politician, Mayor of Great Falls, Montana, 2006-09 2
Dona Vermilya, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from New York, 1996, 2000 3

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)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 19) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 16) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html