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From the ancient and beautiful Italian island of Sicily emerged a variety of distinguished names, including the notable surname Pratelli. 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 were characterized by a profusion of derivatives coined from given names. Although the most traditional type of family name found in the region of Sicily 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, and does not necessarily denote nobility. The Pratelli family lived by the fields or meadows. The surname Prato is derived from the local name Prato, which means field or meadow.
The surname Pratelli was first found in at Lecce, the historic city in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Lecce and a port city located on the southern tip of the Italian peninsula.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Pratelli research. The years 1229, 1292, 1330, 1352, 1359, 1370, 1400 and 1450 are included under the topic Early Pratelli History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 Pratelli include Prato, Prata, Prati, Prado, Prada, Pra, Dal Prato, Del Prato, Dal Pra, Pratello, Pratelli, Pratella, Pradella, Pradel, Pradetto, Pratolini, Pradolin, Pratali and many more.
Prominent among bearers of this surname in early times was Guglielmo Prata, an ambassador in Milan in 1229 who undertook part of the responsibility for renewing the city after the destructive invasion of Federico Barbarossa; Ser Lapo de'Pratesi of Florence is recorded as having been a priest in 1292; Cristoforo Prata was a respected doctor in Milan around 1450; also of this Milanese Prata family was Antonio, Senator and Supreme Chancellor of the Senate in Milan during the early 16th century; Daniele-Florido Prata of Friuli, who, from the Republic of Venice, received the title of nobleman, and...
Another 97 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Pratelli Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
An examination of many early immigration records reveals that people bearing the name Pratelli arrived in North America very early: B. Prado, aged 27, who arrived at Ellis Island, in 1923; Benjamin Prado, aged 28, who arrived at Ellis Island, in 1923; Alfredo Prata, aged 21, who arrived at Ellis Island from Spinaorola, Italy, in 1911.