How I tell the different between an Italian last name or a Sicilian?

I wanted to trace my ancestors but one family member said it was Italian and one said it was Sicilian? How can I find out which?

How I tell the different between an Italian last name or a Sicilian?
Go to ellisislandrecords.org. Put in the surname. See which port the majority of them came from, where there town of origin is, and work backwards from there. Names tend to be regional in Italy and Sicily.
Reply:1) Trace your family, startin with your parents and working back, generation by generaion, paying PARTICULAR attention to birth place.





2) Look closely at those birth places. The people born in Sicily are Sicilians. The ones born in Milan and Florence aren't, unless their parents went there to seek their fortunes.





Seriously, you can't tell for sure. Tracing is the only route.





Every time I answer a "Surname Origin?" question, I think of the joke:





Man sees a sign, "Olaf Olafson, Chinese Restaurant". He goes in, orders a plate of chow mein, asks the Chinese gentleman behind the counter who is Olaf. Chinese gentleman says, "Me! There I was at Ellis Island. The man in front of me was a Swede, six foot four, broad shoulders, red beard. They ask him 'Name?' he says 'Olaf Olafson', in a voice that makes the pens rattle in their holders. Off he goes to seek his fortune. They ask me 'Name?', I say 'Sam Ting', and here I am."
Reply:Sicily is a part of Italy, (although a lot of northern Italians wish it wasn't), and has been officially since 1945. Most Italians who came to the US between say 1880 and 1930 were from the poor, agricultural south of Italy -- Sicily, Calabria, Naples, etc. The reason is simple: successful people generally don't emigrate. I don't think you can tell where a family is from by their name.
Reply:maybe you should put your last name up here so we can figure it out.

winter sweet