THE ORIGINS OF SURNAMES

In the early years of the Middle Ages, everyone knew his neighbors and there was little need for last names. But as the population expanded and the towns grew, a need arose to find ways to differentiate between two people who shared the same first name. Surnames can be grouped into four categories: PATRONYMIC (identify people as their father's children), LOCATIVE (identify people based upon where they live), OCCUPATIONAL (identify people based upon their jobs) and NICKNAMES (adjectivies that helped to describe a person). My surname is Verde (green) and it's typical of Naples but it's also found in Sicily. It comes from the Germanic BERT which means ''shining''. From Bert it has become Verde thanks to the ''betacismo'' (substitution from the B to the V) and thanks to the ''tetacismo'' (substitution from the T to the D). Alternatively, it could be a nickname on someone who was particularly fond of dressing in green.