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The Italian surname Capotosto is classified as being of nickname origin. Surnames, which are derived from a nickname, are said to constitute one of the widest and most varied class of family names. This particular category encompasses many different types of origin. The most obvious are those names, which are based on a physical characteristic or personal attribute of the initial bearer. In this particular instance, the surname Capotosto is derived from the contraction of two different elements, "capo" meaning "head" and "tosto" meaning "hard", thus, literally signifying "hard head", and denoting in a figurative sense, a stubborn person. Among the variants of the surname Capotosto are Capatosto and its plural form Capotosti.
References to the surname Capotosto
or to a variant include a record of a family bearing the name Capotosti,
whose ancestral family seat was located in Macerata. This family was granted
a coat of arms.
The Jpeg file on the left is a scan of the official file of the geneological
institute in Florence, and it is signed and sealed by the director of the
institute. Click on it and you will get a 156kb image.
While it is true that the Romans retained a gens name which could be traced to the progenitor of the lineage, the use of fixed hereditary family names in Italy is said to date from the tenth and eleventh centuries. However, it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that this process of adopting a fixed family name, which had begun so many centuries earlier, was completed. This name was introduces to the United States by, among others, the brothers, Antonio, and Francesco Paulo Capotosto, who arrived in New York, on board the "Iniziativa" (having sailed from Naples), on April 19th, 1890. Click Here to view the family tree.
BLAZON OF ARMS: Azure, a mound of three peaks argent, with flames issuing from both sides gules, surmounted by an oak-tree the branches placed in the shape of the cross of Saint Andrew and in chief a comet placed in fees, all or.
Translation: Azure (blue) symbolizes
the planets Venus and denotes Truth.
CREST: An eagle displayed sable,
or a crown.
Peter Capotosto
peter@sailing.org.ph
Oct 1999
