Ferraro History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Italy
Portugal
Spain

Venice, one of the oldest and most beautiful island regions of Italy, is the esteemed birthplace of numerous prominent families, including the family that bears the surname Ferraro. Although people were originally known only by a single name, 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. 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 common type of family name found in Venice is the patronymic surname, which is derived from the father's givenname, names derived from occupations are also found. Occupational surnames, which are less common than other types of surnames in Italy, date back to the feudal era. However, under the Feudal System, occupational names did not become hereditary until the offices themselves became hereditary. It was only after an occupation was inherited by several generations in lineal descent that occupational names came to be applied to entire families, and so became a hereditary surname. The surname Ferraro comes from the Latin word ferro which means iron. The family likely were blacksmiths.

Early Origins of the Ferraro family

The surname Ferraro was first found in Modena (Etruscan: Mutna; Latin: Mutina; Modenese: Mòdna), where records can be found in 1271 of the Ferrari family living there at the Villa Mugnano.

Saint Vincent Ferrer, OP (1350-1419) was a Valencian Dominican friar and preacher, who gained acclaim as a missionary and a logician. He is honored as a saint of the Catholic Church and other churches of Catholic traditions. His feast day is April 5th.

Early History of the Ferraro family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ferraro research. The years 1471, 1480, 1499, 1508, 1530, 1546, 1584, 1603, 1653, 1655, 1662, 1681, 1850 and 1865 are included under the topic Early Ferraro History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ferraro Spelling Variations

There are many variations of most of those Italian names that originated in the medieval era. Some of these come from regional differences, like the tradition of ending northern names in "o" and southern names in "i". Others come from inaccuracies in the recording process, which were extremely common in the eras before dictionaries standardized spelling. Some of the spelling variations of Ferraro are Ferraro, Ferrari, Ferrario, Ferraris, Ferrai, Ferrero, Ferrarese, Ferreri, Ferrèri, Ferreli, Ferriero, Ferrieri, Ferrerio, Fevrero, Fevriero, Ferrer, Fer, Ferr, Fare, De Ferrari, Deferrari, Defferrari, De Ferraris, Ferrarello, Ferraretto, Ferrarini, Ferrarin, Ferrarotti, Ferrarone, Ferraron and many more.

Early Notables of the Ferraro family

Prominent among members of the family was Giovanni Matteo Ferrari, a doctor in Grado and the court physician to Francesco Sforza; Bartolomeo Ferrari was an ecclesiastic in Milan who studied law before dedicating his life to the church in 1499; Gaudenzio Ferarri (1471-1546), an Italian painter; Antonio Ferrero (died 1508), an Italian Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal; Lodovico Ferrari was a famous mathematician in Bologna in 1530; Benedetto Ferrari of Reggio (1603-1681) was a composer and in 1653 to 1662 was maestro of the chapel to the Duke of Modena; Giovanni Baptista 1...
Another 92 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Ferraro Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ferraro Ranking

In the United States, the name Ferraro is the 3,438^th most popular surname with an estimated 9,948 people with that name. 2 However, in France, the name Ferraro is ranked the 3,557^th most popular surname with an estimated 1,500 - 2,000 people with that name. 3

Ferraro migration to the United States +

In the immigration and passenger lists a number of early immigrants bearing the name Ferraro were found:

Ferraro Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

F Ferraro, who arrived in San Francisco, California in 1851 4
Angelo Ferraro, aged 38, who landed in America from Acri, in 1892
John Ferraro, who landed in California in 1893 4
Angelo Ferraro, aged 32, who immigrated to America, in 1894
Angelo Ferraro, aged 30, who settled in America from Naples, in 1897
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Ferraro Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Alfonzo Ferraro, aged 48, who landed in America from Mercogliano, in 1900
Andenzeda Ferraro, aged 13, who settled in America from Sambusa, in 1900
Adelina Ferraro, aged 9, who immigrated to America from S. Martino, in 1901
Agrippina Ferraro, aged 23, who landed in America from Cellara, in 1902
Alfonso Ferraro, aged 19, who immigrated to the United States from Malvito, in 1902
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Ferraro (post 1700) +

Peter Joseph Ferraro (b. 1973), American former NHL hockey player
Geraldine Ferraro (1935-2011), American politician and 1984 Vice-President candidate
Michael Dennis Ferraro (b. 1944), American Major League Baseball player
Ross Ferraro, American politician, Mayor of Carol Stream, Illinois, 1983-2007
Rosemary F. Ferraro, American Republican politician, Delegate to Republican National Convention from California, 1972
Nicholas Ferraro (b. 1966), American politician, Member of New York State Senate, 1966-70 (12th District 1966, 13th District 1967-70)
Margaret Ferraro, American Republican politician, Delegate to Republican National Convention from Pennsylvania, 2008
John Ferraro (1924-2001), American Democratic Party politician, Football player for University of Southern California; Played in three Rose Bowls; All-American in 1944 and 1947; Named to the National Football Hall of Fame. He was the longest-serving city council member in Los Angeles history: 1966 to 2001
Geraldine Anne Ferraro (1935-2011), American Democratic Party politician, U.S. Representative from New York 9th District, 1979-85; Delegate to Democratic National Convention from New York, 1980, 1984 (chair, Platform Committee), 1996; Candidate for Vice President of the United States, 1984
Gayl Ferraro, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Illinois, 2000, 2004, 2008
... (Another 6 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Citations +

Battista di Crollalanza, Giovanni, Dizionario Storico-Blasonico 3 vols. Pisa: Arnaldo Forini Editore, 1886. Print
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
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)