Does anyone know where and when the family name 'Serafini' first appears?
Today, Serafinis are distributed widely across Italy and appear throughout the world.
I have read that the name was historically associated with the Marche and Abruzzo, but many more Serafinis live in Rome today.
Serafini is a beautiful and unusual name.
It is not a surname of the ordinary sort (for instance, a family name which refers to a person, place, occupation, and so on).
It appears sometimes as a first name, in female and male variants, in singular and plural versions.
The name has a direct religious element: namely, it is etymologically connected to "Seraphim"-a category of angles, originating in ancient Hebrew teachings, appearing in the Bible (Isaiah) and later in Christianity .
Perhaps Seraphino was the first?
Better known as St. Seraphinus, he was born in Montegranaro, Marche in 1540.
He became a Capuchin lay brother and holy man, and was later canonized.
There are many other prominent chruch figures with the name:
Giovanni Cardinal Serafini (1786-1855)
Luigi Cardinal Serafini (1808-1894) Magliano Sabina, Latium
Dominico Cardinal Serafini (1852-1918)
Giulio Cardinal Serafini (1867=1938)
Marchese Camillo Serafini, Governor of Vatican City State (1929-1952).
Are they related to each other?
It seems unlikely, but was there originally only one Serafini family?
Please share your thoughts with me on this topic.