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Ieradi or Ierace or Ieraci???

Ieradi or Ierace or Ieraci???

Alexandra Ierace (View posts)
Posted: 13 Apr 2001 9:23PM GMT
PLEASE HELP ME! All of these names are so much alike! I've noticed that all came from the town of Catanzaro, in the Province of Calabria Italy. Could these all have been the same names, and when our ancestors got to America they changed the spelling a little bit? Please respond if you know! Thanks!

Re: Ieradi or Ierace or Ieraci???

Denise Iradi (View posts)
Posted: 17 Jan 2003 3:39AM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi alexandra,
my name is Denise Iradi. I live in New Jersey and my ansestors are from Calabria. Ieradi is how my name was originally spelt and I am so excited to see someone else with that name spelling. It's so hard to find out any information on Iradi's or Ieradi's. I guess when my great grandparents came to the United States they spelt the name wrong. But I just thought it was so interesting that there is a whole Web Page for us..(smile). Ok write back if you'd like.
Denise

Re: Ieradi or Ierace or Ieraci???

Posted: 18 Jan 2003 10:52AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 20 May 2003 10:10AM GMT
Surnames: Ieradi
Hi Denise:

My grandmoter, Maria Ieradi, settled in Philadelphia from Cantazaro, Calabria. She had 2 sisters (Rose & Celia) and a brother (Carmen). Any possible relation?

Re: Ieradi or Ierace or Ieraci???

Denise (View posts)
Posted: 18 Jan 2003 5:54PM GMT
Classification: Query
I'd have to ask my father.. but there must be some relation. This is really cool I'm so happy I found this message board. What is your last name is it Ieradi? Write back... you can use my email if you want... oneapril@aol.com.
~Denise

Re: Ierardi, Ieradi, Iradi, Ierachi, Ierace, Ieraci, etc.

D.Michael Iradi (View posts)
Posted: 15 May 2003 12:46PM GMT
Classification: Query
The following is the introduction to my "Ieradi" family genealogy. Hope it helps. I'd love to know any further info. myself on the subject.


IERADI - Cortale (Calabria), Italy


An initial, limited search for the surname “Ieradi” has revealed that the name is of very restricted origin, evidently only from in and around (i.e. in the immediate area of) the tiny mountain village of Cortale, Italy (in the Province of Calabria.) In general, Italian surnames that begin with (i + vowel) are Calabrian; the “i” being a form of “j”, as is still evident even in those letters’ modern written representations.

Many have theorized that the origins of the name are Arabic/Persian (especially in its bastardized form without the “e”) do to the similarity in sound with many names and words from that region of the world, and even point to the fact that the region of Calabria was once under Islamic rule as part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to support this notion.

Additionally, I have even heard theories that the name might be Greek in origin, since there are apparently to this day still “Greek-speaking” villages somewhere in the mountains of Calabria, presumably the last vestiges of a period of Greek colonization from before the Roman Empire. Some Greco-Americans do have similar last names.

In its American bastardized form without the “e” (Iradi) in my family, the name has become spelled the same as the Spanish surname of the same spelling which, in fact, appears to actually be Basque (i.e. region of Bilbao and Vizcaya, Spain) in origin. E.g. there’s a delicious ewe’s milk semi-hard cheese from that region called both “Iraty” or “Ossau-Iraty.” The fact that a cheese bears this name (as well as its earliest appearance in Mormon records being an 18th century “De Iradi” from Vizcaya) clearly indicates this particular surname’s origins as a place name, at least in the Basque country. Incidentally, a certain internationally notorious Basque terrorist with the surname Iradi escaped the custody of French National authorities in January of 2003, causing massive firings among that country’s law enforcement ranks due to their incompetence.

A search of Ellis Island immigration records reveals the following variations of the name, which no doubt indicate completely different origins, and therefore different meanings: Iaradi, Ieradi and Irate (Calabria); Iradi and Irati (Hispanic, of Basque origin); Iaradi, Ieredi, Iradi (Hungaro-Slavic.)

My own thoughts on the name as it appears in Calabria, “Ieradi,” is that it’s a variant form of something else. The name Ierachi also exists there (Ierace and Ieraci being variants), which indicates an origin from the Calabrian village “Jerache,” and it can not be rule out at this point that “Ieradi” could possibly be a bastardized form of this surname. Furthermore, the name “Ierardi” also exists in the same locals as “Ieradi,” and I believe, in fact, that the latter is derived from the former (they are pronounced nearly identically in Italian.) This, in turn, is probably derived from Jerardi/Gerardi, possibly being a patronymic “son of Gerardo,” or a place name “from (the parish of St.) Gerardo” (although there seems to be no modern location bearing this name), and I tend to lean toward the patronymic interpretation “son of Gerardo.”

Finally, in support of this patronymic interpretation, the surname “Ierardi” bears a linguistic similarity with the French surname “Girardin,” which is also a patronymic from the Germanic name “Gare-Waldan” contracted to “Garaldan”– i.e. “Lance-Governor.” The change from the liquid-consonant “l” to the liquid-consonant “r” follows certain linguistic principles, as evidenced by the English word “warden” (also derived from “Walden”), not to mention a trip to the local Chinese Restaurant....

Therefore, the independent appearance of both similar village names and surnames in diverse cultures and linguistic groups may most probably be in large part the result of the adoption of patronymics from prenames all with a common (probably Germanic / unlikely Arabic) origin.

A. GIOVANNI ANTONIO IERADI, b.c.1860? in Cortale (Calabria), Italy d.? in Buenos Aires?, Argentina. He m.c.1878 Paola (b.1859 d.1944) dau. of Salvatore Stilo. He was born in Cortale per his Italian grandchildren. He was a mason by profession, and met her at the “Festival of St. Leonardo.” He left for S. America (because of lack of work) with his oldest son Tomaso (b.1883) probably sometime before the child was 10, and “disappeared” leaving Tomaso orphaned in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Paola evidently “remarried” (although a marriage certificate has as yet to be produced) sometime before 1896 Gaetano Mazzoccha, a coachman and “major domo?” of the local Count in Borgia, Italy.

I was told by Eleanor Iradi that her father told her (and strangely none of his other 7 children) the following story: “Giovanni and Tomaso arrived in Brazil, where Giovanni (accidentally?) killed a man. He and Tomaso fled to Buenos Aires, but the dead man’s family killed Giovanni there.” My father, Eleanor’s brother, thinks that Eleanor created this account because her own father-in-law in NJ had been imprisoned for intentionally killing a man, and the story was invented to lessen the social shame of her and her husband within the NJ Iradi family setting. Unfortunately, all those in the know regarding the apparent death of Giovanni Antonio Ieradi are either dead, or keeping their mouths shut (e.g. the Argentine branch of the Iradi family “doesn’t know” either….)

B. ANTONIO “SALVATORE” SALVATORE IERADI, b.1888 in Borgia (Calabria), Italy d.1967 in E. Hanover, NJ. He m.c.1909 Rosa Acquavella (b.1892 d.1937). My paternal grandfather.

Re: Ieradi or Ierace or Ieraci??? -Are they related???

D.Michael Iradi (View posts)
Posted: 1 Jun 2003 8:17AM GMT
Classification: Query
Please refer to my posting above concerning a proposed Ierardi/Ieradi/Ierachi DNA mapping project to determine our relationship to eachother. - Michael d.m.iradi@wanadoo.fr

Re: Ieradi or Ierace or Ieraci???

Ila (View posts)
Posted: 2 Aug 2004 6:17PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Ieraci, Lerace, Jerace, Ieradi
HI Alex

I think that what happened way back in the day is that there were a number of folks that were functionally illiterate and had to rely on the spelling of the name through memory and hearing it spoken. This would explain the subtle differences that we are seeing here. My husband's mother was Elisabetta Calla, she had one sister as far as I know, Rosa. Elisabetta married Domenico Ieraci in Calabria. My husband Giuseppe was born in Marino di Casselvelino in 1949. Rosa married shortly before the First World War, he died after only three months, Rosa was pregnant with her one and only child, Raphaelina. Raphaelina married Francesco Albanese and they immigrated to British Columbia, Canada.

My husband immigrated to BC, Canada in 1967. As fate would have it, my distant ancestor, King Rene D'Anjou (De Guise) of France was given the title "King of Sicily" through the passing of a relative. He was commonly known as "Good King Rene" and was a close friend of Cosimo De Medici and inspired Cosimo to build Europe's first Library. The Renaissance is actually named after this relative of mine "Rene's Essence" as he apparently was a great supporter of the arts and was quite the writer himself. He rode with Jeanne D'Arc for two years and was connected with the building of the Notre Dames Des Lourdes as well as the Chateau in the De Guise family line. Shakespeare wrote about Good King Rene in one of his plays.

The funny thing is for years and years I have had to endure the bragging of my husband concerning the great conquests of the Romans. Now by poetic justice I can lay claim to some pretty substantial bragging rights of my own. LOL

Ila

Re: Ieradi or Ierace or Ieraci???

Posted: 24 Dec 2005 6:51PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 9 Jun 2006 10:50PM GMT
"Renaissance" means "re-birth" as anyone who speaks modern French, for example, will be able to tell you - and not "Rene's Essence" - as you've been misled to believe by whatever fantastical sources you've been quoting out of (doubtless LDS sources....)

As for the variation in spellings, it has almost nothing to do with illiteracy (although the great majority of southern Italians were illiterate, as literacy had historically been seen as a threat to the powers that be in Roman Catholic countries, as evidenced by all the historic burnings and executions of "heretics"/scholars who had dared to translate the Scriptures into the vernacular language of the country in question, and who then "diabolically" set out to teach, as Luther had put it, the "milk maid" how to read for herself....)

The difference in spelling is due more likely to a different surname origin, than illiteracy; those bearing the surname "Ierachi" having originally come from the village of Jerache (i.e. a place name), and those being named Ieradi (a alternative form of Ierardi) being the "son of Gerardo" (i.e. a patronymic.)

Hope this helps.

DMI

Re: Ieradi or Ierace or Ieraci???

Ila (View posts)
Posted: 24 Dec 2005 8:29PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Ieraci, Lerace, Jerace, Ieradi
Hello and thank you for your input. You may well be correct regarding the literacy issue, RC church was instrumental in keeping their people in the dark for as long as was possible. As for the Rene's Essence, no not from LDS, actually from a family website of the De Guise Dit Flammand in Burgundy.

Have a Merry Christmas or whatever you choose to call it in these politically correct days. ;-)

Ila

Re: Ierardi, Ieradi, Iradi, Ierachi, Ierace, Ieraci, etc.

Posted: 7 Jul 2008 6:40PM GMT
Classification: Query
New email for D. Michael Iradi: dmiradi@gmail.com
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