The GIRONIMI of Revò: A Theory of Origins, and a Brief Historical Overview. By genealogist Lynn Serafinn.
My ‘Christmas Surname Countdown’
As you may already know, this month I am on a mission to publish a new surname study every day between December 15th and December 24th (Christmas Eve). To keep it a surprise, I’m not going to announce which surnames I’ll be posting on which days.
This GIRONIMI article is number 7 of 10 in this series. If you enjoy it, and you want to keep it to print out or share with family, you can purchase it as a 10-page PDF for $1.75 USD, using the form below.
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Linguistic Origins of the Surname Gironimi
Variants: Geronimi; Gieronimi; Hieronymi; Hieronyma; Zavegna
Gironimi (accent on the second syllable) is a patronymic surname derived from the male personal name ‘Geronimo’ (i.e., Girolamo), which has the meaning ‘sacred name.’[1] The man’s name is also seen spelled ‘Hieronymus’ in Latin records.
Although the surname is often seen spelled ‘Geronimi’ in older documents, it is almost always written ‘Gironimi’ in present-day records in Trentino. Moreover, the spelling ‘Gironimi’ is apparently exclusive to Trentino in all of Italy. And within Trentino itself, it is nearly always to be found in Revò in Val di Non.
However, the spelling ‘Geronimi’ is much more common in other parts of Italy, specifically in Lombardia where the vast majority of Geronimi live. This will prove to be an important clue when we formulate theories of the geographic origins of the Gironimi in Trentino.
Gironimi vs. ‘Zavegna’
When we first encounter the Gironimi in Trentino, they are living in the comune of Revò in Val di Non, where they lived at least back to the beginning of the 1600s, and possibly a bit earlier. However, the earliest records for the family do not actually say Gironimi, but ‘ZAVEGNA’. For example, in the 1624 census for Revò, we find the listing for the following family:[2]
Entry 20: (Living) in his own home:
- Giacomo Zavegna, age 50
- Margherita, Giacomo’s wife, age 41.
- Giovanni, son, age 20.
- Giovanni Battista, son, age 10.
- Giacomo, son, age 7.
- Agnese, daughter, age 4.
A few years earlier, in the 1620 Tax Census for Revò, it says that 7 people were living in Giacomo Zavegna’s household,[3] which would imply there was another child who died sometime before 1624.
I will come to the significance of this name ‘Zavegna’ in the next section, but for now bear in mind that this is the ONLY Zavegna household living in Revò in 1624, and there are NO families called ‘Gironimi’.
A decade later, in the 1633 Tax Census, we find again only one Zavegna household, but this time, the son Giovanni (now 29 years old) is cited as head of the household.[4] Unfortunately, the record does not give the names (or even the number of) residents in the household.
It is only in the middle of that century do we start to see ‘Gironimi’ (in a wide variety of spellings) establishing itself as the formal surname, with ‘Zavegna’ gradually falling out of use. At first glance, we might miss the fact that these are two different names for the same family, but some records make it clear for us. Take for example this 1641 baptismal record of Antonia, daughter of the above-mentioned Giovanni and his wife Cristina:[5]
9 APRIL 1641: Baptismal record in Revò for Antonia, daughter of Giovanni and Cristina of the family Hieronyma, or Zavegna.
About a decade later, we find a land sale agreement in which a ‘Giovanni Geronimi’ acts as an agent in the name of Count Cristoforo Riccardo Thun in 1654.[6] Given the date, this could only be referring to the ‘Giovanni Zavegna’ (son of Giacomo) whom we met in earlier documents.
A decade after that, in 1664, we find Giovanni’s younger brother Giacomo referred to as ‘dominus’ Giacomo ‘de Hieronimis de Zavegna’ of Revò, in a land sale agreement, in which he is also representing the same Count Cristoforo Riccardo Thun.[7]
Thus, we now have confirmation that the ‘Zavegna’ and ‘Gironimi’ of Revò are one and the same.
Moreover, as there is only one Zavegna/Gironimi household in Revò in the early 1600s, all people who have Gironimi ancestors from Revò are ancestrally related.
A Theory of Geographic Origins
One cannot help but be curious as to why we have a family called ‘Zavegna’ who is now suddenly called ‘Gironimi’. You might speculate that ‘Zavegna’ was a soprannome for the family, but the purpose of soprannomi is usually to distinguish different lines of families who share the same surname. And as we’ve seen, there was only ONE Zavegna/Gironimi family living in Revò at the beginning of the 1600s, so such a soprannome would be pointless.
My own theory is that ‘Zavegna’ is actually a clue as to the family’s geographic origins.
Throughout the medieval era in Trentino, the letter ‘z’ was often used interchangeably with a soft ‘g’ or soft ‘c’. For example, my father’s ancestral valley – Val Giudicarie – is typically spelled ‘Zudicaria’ in medieval maps (changing the ‘gi’ sound to a ‘z’). Similarly, surnames like ‘Endrici’ or ‘Avancini’ are sometimes seen with a ‘z’ instead of a ‘ci’ (i.e., Endrizzi, Avanzini), even within the same parish.
I believe ‘Zavegna’ is a Trentino interpretation of the place name ‘Chiavenna’ which is a comune in the province of Sondrio, in the region of Lombardia. Dating back to the Roman era, this comune was originally called ‘Clavenna’, and is actually pronounced ‘Ciavena’ (with a soft ‘c’) in their local dialect.[8] It has long been an important hub between Lombardia and other places the Alps, owing its strategic placement near well-used mountain passes.
So aside from the linguistic similarity, is there a more compelling reason to theorise that there may be a link between the name ‘Zavegna’ and the place locally known as ‘Ciavena’?
Yes, definitely.
Although the surname ‘Gironimi’ is exclusive to Trentino, if we look up the surname ‘Geronimi’, we find out a very different story. According to present-day statistics, there are about 197 families with the surname ‘Geronimi’ living in Italy today. Of these, the undisputed majority (170) are in the region of Lombardia. Of these, 149 are in province of Sondrio. And of those in Sondrio, the highest number of Geronimi families (66) are reportedly living in the comune of Chiavenna.[9] In fact, Clyde Geronimi (1901-1989), the award-winning Disney animator who directed and such classics as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and 101 Dalmatians, was originally from Chiavenna.[10]
I’ve said many times in my articles that where people live today is not necessarily where they lived in the past. However, when you see high figures like these clustered in one place, it is often a good indication that the surname has existed in that place for a long time.
Would such a migration from Chiavenna in Sondrio to Revò in Val di Non have been possible in the 1500s?
Yes, absolutely.
The mountain pass known as ‘Tonale’ (now a state road) had already been used for many centuries by that time. So, while the two places are not exactly close (nearly 200 kilometres), the route between them along the Tonale Pass is actually fairly direct:
So now, let’s weigh up all the factors:
- Trentini in the past often changed ‘ci’ sounds to ‘z’ in written form; knowing this, I also believe they probably pronounced the letter ‘z’ more softly than they do today (closer to the French letter ‘j’).
- Chiavenna has the largest population of Geronimi in present-day Italy.
- Travel from Chiavenna to Val di Non was possible via the Tonale Pass in the 1500s, and even earlier.
- There was only ONE ‘Zavegna’ family in Revò at the beginning of the 1600s, so the soprannome could not have been a tool to distinguish it from other lines, and it must have served some other purpose.
- We also know that many Lombardians migrated to Trentino in the 1400s-1500s. Although many of these were craftsmen, the Zavegna appear to have had high-ranking business connections pretty much from the beginning.
- Lastly, I have observed that other families who came to Trentino from outside the province were sometimes referred to by the place they came from, rather than by their surname. As they became more settled in their new home, this practice would often be dropped, as it was no longer relevant.
All in all, I feel there is a strong case for the theory that the ‘Zavegna’ of Revò originally from Chiavenna, and that their surname was always ‘Geronimi’. The change of spelling to ‘Gironimi’ is negligible, as it doesn’t really change the pronunciation very much. Compare, for example, ‘Domenico’ versus ‘Dominico’.
When did the ‘Zavegna’ arrive in Revò? It is difficult to say precisely, but looking at the information contained in the 1624 census, I would guess that either Giacomo himself migrated to Revò in the last years of the 1500s, or he was born in Revò, and was the only surviving son of a ‘Zavegna’ man who had migrated there a generation earlier.
I do wish to stress that this is my own personal ‘origin theory’ for the Gironimi of Revò, and you certainly should not take it as ‘fact’ if you find it too tenuous.
The Soprannome ‘Bressan’
Moving forward into the early 1700s, two great-grandsons of patriarch Giacomo Zavegna adopted another soprannome for a generation or so. These were Giovanni Andrea Gironimi (born 13 June 1703)[11] and his brother Bartolomeo (born 8 May 1705),[12] sons of Giovanni Gironimi and his wife Domenica Rossi.
These two brothers seem to have spent a few decades away their native parish of Revò, because we find their descendants popping up in the latter half of the 1700s, but only ONE of their children between them was actually born in Revò.[13]
So, the question is, where did they go? I believe they may have gone to the province of Brescia in southeastern Lombardia (which borders Trentino), as when they returned to Revò, they both adopted the soprannome ‘Il Bressan’ (or just ‘Bressan’). Any time I have seen a soprannome like ‘Bressan’, Bressani’ or ‘Bresciani’, it was invariably making some sort of reference to the province of Brescia. We know it could not be referring to their mother or their wives, as we know all of those women were from Val di Non, like their husbands.
5 OCTOBER 1758. Cattarina [born Rossi], wife of Bartolomeo Geronimi, called ‘il Bressan’, age 50 years, armed with all the Sacraments, died in the [grace of the] Lord, and was buried in the cemetery of San Stefano in Revò.[14]
Giovanni Andrea Gironimi, Notary
Similar in role to today’s contract lawyer, but with a significantly higher social status, the ‘notary’ provided an extremely important professional service in pre-industrial Trentino. Generally highly literate and well-educated in civil and/or ecclesiastical law, the notary was responsible for drafting every single piece of legal documentation, ranging from land sales to financial agreements, to local charters of laws, to legal disputes.
I have found references to only one Gironimi notary so far, namely Giovanni Andrea Gironimi (born in Revò on 2 October 1713),[15] who is said to have been active in his profession at least from 1743-1794.[16] In his 1744 marriage record to Domenica Rossi of Revò,[17] in addition to being cited as a notary, Andrea is also addressed by the honourific ‘spectabilis’, a term typically reserved for notaries.
15 JULY 1744: Marriage of Andrea, spectabilis dominus Notary Gironimi, and Domenica, daughter of the late dominus Aliprando Rossi of Revò.
The Gironimi in Later Centuries
The descendants of a single Zavegna couple living in Revò at the beginning of the 1600s have flourished throughout the centuries, producing a long line of Gironimi, right up to the present day.
A total of 113 births with the surname Gironimi/Geronimi were recorded in Trentino between the years 1815-1923, nearly all of them in Revò.[18]
Today, there are an estimated 53 people with the surname ‘Gironimi’ currently living in the province, with 50 of them living in Revò.[19] Curiously, if you plug in the spelling ‘Geronimi’ on that same source, you will see no results for Trentino at all. So, if my theory of an ancestral connection between the Geronimi of Chiavenna and the Gironimi of Revò is correct, we see that they are now distinguishable by the alteration of a single vowel.
A significant number of Gironimi migrated to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often to work in the coal mines of western Pennsylvania or the iron mines in Michigan, and you will find dozens of the US graves in these places memorialised on the Find A Grave website.[20]
COMING UP TOMORROW…
This GIRONIMI history was article 7 in my special 10-part ‘Christmas Surname Countdown’.
If you liked this article and want to keep it to print or share with family, you can purchase it as a PDF for only $1.75 USD here:
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There are just THREE more surnames to go in this special Christmas series. TOMORROW I’ll be posting a brand new surname history. If you want to receive an announcement each time one of my ‘Christmas Surname Countdown’ articles/eBooks is published, be sure to subscribe to this blog in the subscription box below.
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Until next time!
Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn
21 December 2024
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NOTES
[1] BERTOLUZZA, Aldo. 1998. Guida ai Cognomi del Trentino. Trento: Società Iniziative Editoriali (S.R.L.), page 158.
[2] Revò parish archives, anagraphs, page 70 (Revò, 28 July 1624).
[3] ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI TRENTO, APV Sezione Latina. Capsa 9, 169 1620 Tax Census, Revò (30 September 1620).
[4] ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI TRENTO, APV Sezione Latina. Capsa 65, n. 17, 1633 Tax Census (23 April 1633). Jurisdiction: Valli di Non e Sole, page 83.
[5] Revò parish records, baptisms, volume 1, page 202-203.
[6] PROVINCIA AUTONOMA DI TRENTO. ‘Compravendita, 16 November 1654, Tozzaga.’ Pietro, son of the late Francesco Viani of Cassana (Caldes), sells to Giovanni Geronimi of Revò, agent in the name of Count Cristoforo Riccardo Thun, a field in the territory of Tozzaga. Notary: Giacomo Aliprandini of Preghena. Archivi Storici del Trentino, https://www.cultura.trentino.it/archivistorici/unita/3565090. Accessed 24 November 2024.
[7] PROVINCIA AUTONOMA DI TRENTO. ‘Compravendita, 16 April 1664, Dambel.’ The ‘dominus’ Salvatore Zanetti from Dambel sells to the ‘dominus’ Count Cristoforo Riccardo [son of the late Ercole] Thun, […], represented by the ‘dominus’ Giacomo ‘de Hieronimis de Zavegna’ from Revò, two agricultural lands, etc. Archivi Storici del Trentino, https://www.cultura.trentino.it/archivistorici/unita/1396804. Accessed 21 December 2024.
[8] WIKIPEDIA. ‘Chiavenna’. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiavenna. Accessed 21 December 2024.
[9] COGNOMIX. ‘Geronimi’. Mappe dei cognomi italiani. https://www.cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cognomi-italiani/GERONIMI
[10] Born Clito Enrico Geronimi in Chiavenna on 12 June 1901, he died in Newport Beach, California on 24 April 1989. WIKIPEDIA. ‘Clyde Geronimi’. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Geronimi/. Accessed 21 December 2024.
[11] Revò parish records, baptisms, volume 2, page 476-477.
[12] Revò parish records, baptisms, volume 2, page 498-499.
[13] This is Bartolomeo’s daughter Maria Lucia, born 1 Oct 1750 [Revò parish records, baptisms, volume 4, page 87].
[14] Revò parish records, deaths, volume 3, page 74.
[15] Revò parish records, baptisms, volume 3, page 50-51.
[16] STENICO, P. Remo. 1999. Notai Che Operarono Nel Trentino dall’Anno 845. Trento: Biblioteca San Bernardino, page 186.
[17] The couple were married 15 July 1744 [Revò parish records, marriages, volume 2, page 66].
[18] NATI IN TRENTINO. Provincia autonomia di Trento. Database of baptisms registered within the parishes of the Archdiocese of Trento between the years 1815-1923. https://www.natitrentino.mondotrentino.net/.
[19] COGNOMI IN TRENTINO-ALTO ADIGE. ‘Gironimi’. https://italia.indettaglio.it/ita/cognomi/cognomi_trentinoaltoadige.html. Data accurate as of 24 November 2024.
[20] FINDAGRAVE.COM. https://www.findagrave.com/ A search of the surname ‘Gironimi’ on 21 December 2024 showed 37 US memorials.