Family

There are two possible explanations for the origin of the Italian surname Tedeschi and its variations such as Tedeschini, Tedesco, Tedisco, Todeschi, and Todesco. Firstly, the name may be of nickname origin, descriptive of some personal or physical characteristic of the initial bearer. In this case, the name may be derived from the Old Germanic word “theudisk” or “theodisk”, which comes from “Theuda”, meaning “German people”. Thus this name came to indicate “one who came from Germany, a German”. In some instances, it is also possible that the name is of occupational origin, belonging to the category of surnames descriptive of the trade or profession pursued by the original bearer. In medieval Italy, most fifers were of German extraction and therefore, the name Tedeschi in time came to denote a fifer as well as a German.

This surname can be found throughout Italy and is recorded as early as the 12th century in the Latin forms Teudiskus, Todescus, Todischus, and Tediscus. Early records show that between the 13th and 16th century a family of the name Tedeschi originally from Catania was counted among the nobility in Messina, Sicily. In 1573, one Giovani-Giacome Tedeschi was a member of the counsel of noblemen of Verona. One Giovan-Giacome Tedeschi was recorded in 1651, and Leonardo Tedeschi was residing in Verona in 1666. Other references in Italy include the recorded birth of Giovanni Michele Tedeschi, which took place on the 17th of September 1808, in Castelnuovo Della Daunia, Foggia. His parents were Carmine Tedeschi and Domenica Lembo. It is also known of one Maria Giovanna Tedeschi who married Antonio Migliozzi in Carinola, Caserta on the 22nd of November 1840.

Coat of Arms & Family Crests indicates the surname of TEDESCHI is an Italian and Jewish name for someone of German origin who spoke German. The name was derived from the Italian word TEDESCO. As a Jewish name it was given or taken by Ashkenazic Jews in Italy, or is based on a nickname given to a Jew who had been to Italy. In Lucca, the variants TODESCO and TODESCHI were nicknames for a stammerer; in Naples the variant TODISCO was a nickname for a tippler. The name is also spelt TEDESCHI, TUDISCO, TODESCHINI and TEDESCHINI. The Austrian Jewish industrialist and philanthropist Hermann TODESCO (1792-1844) took this surname after he had acquired the nickname TODESCO as a result of numerous trips to Italy.

Despite evidence that hereditary surnames were in use in the Venetian Republic as early as the 10th Century, the origin of many Italian surnames is unclear. There is still a great potential for research into medieval Italian records while documented evidence indicates the adoption of the father's name as a surname is the most common form. The familiar endings of “i” and “o”, meaning to be a member of a certain family, bears this out. The Church played a very important role in Central Italian heraldry and many Italian families who derived their titles from popes incorporated elements of the papal insignia, notably the papal tiara and the crossed keys, on their Coats of Arms. As in the rest of Europe, the turbulent history of Italy in the Middle Ages is reflected in its heraldry. Traces remain from the successive invasions of the Germans, French, Spanish and Austrians. Certain characteristics, such as the use of horse-shaped shields which were put on the foreheads of horses during tournaments, remain uniquely Italian. Social conditions in Southern Italy during the agricultural depression of the late 19th Century spurred the first wave of emigration as thousands of people escaped to the New World. Latin America was the original destination for these early settlers but as the economy strengthened in the United States, North America became more popular.

Coat of Arms & Family Crests cites the Italian surname of CARUSO was a nickname derived from the Italian word CARUSO meaning ‘close cropped’. This word was also used in the more general sense ‘boy’, ‘lad’, since in the Middle Ages young men of fashion sometimes wore their hair much shorter than was the prevailing style. In the Girgenti area of Sicily the term was an occupational one for a worker in the sulphur pits, since such workers, apparently were required to wear their hair short.

As the agricultural depression of southern Italy worsened towards the end of the 19th century, people began to escape to the New World. The exodus started in earnest in 1887 with Brazil and other parts of Latin America being the original destinations. By 1893, the economy had improved in the United States and people headed there from Italy in greater and greater numbers. In 1898 there were more Italian immigrants to the USA than from any other country. In the post war era, more than a quarter of Italians left the country for a new life. They joined a flood of immigrants to America which was averaging a million a year in the pre war years.

The origins of Italian surnames are not clear, and much work remains to be done on medieval Italian records. It seems that fixed bynames, in some cases hereditary, were in use in the Venetian Republic by the end of the 10th century. The typical Italian surname endings are ‘i’ and ‘o’, the former being characteristic of northern Italy. The singular form ‘o’ is more typical of southern Italy. The name is also spelt CARUSIO, CARUSELLI, CAROSIELLO, CAROSELLI, CARUSONE and CAROSONI.

A notable member of the name was Enrico CARUSO (1873-1921) the Italian operatic tenor, born in Naples. He made his first appearance in FAUST (1895), first appeared in London in 1902 and in New York the following year. The extraordinary power and musical purity of his voice, combined with his acting ability, won him recognition as one of the greatest tenors of all time.