It was not uncommon for immigrants from Italy to be called names that differed from their birth names. For example, many individuals named Vincenzo were often called “Jimmy” or “James”. Have you ever wondered why?
There are several explanations to this but the most widely believed one is that the common nickname for Vincenzo is “Cenz”. When an Italian pronounces “Cenz” it sounds quite like “James” in English. The English pronunciation of Vincenzo is much different from the English pronunciation. The “c” in the Italian version sounds like “ch” as in “church” whereas the “c” in the English version sounds like “c” as in “cent”. You can hear the pronunciations HERE.
Did any of your relatives have an Italian named with a different American nickname? Let us know in the comments!
Sources:
Annuziatta==Nancy
Rosario==Russell
Giacomo==Jack
Francesco=Frank
Vincenza==Vivian
Bartolmeo==Bart
Rosaria==Sadina==Sadie
My great grandfather was Vincenzo Torriani from Lazio. They called him Big Jim in the US. I’m sure his death certificate says James. Thanks for this.
My Father was Vincent, and everyone always called him Jimmy. Some people thought his legal name was James.
I always wondered why.
Thanks for the post.
My grandfather was called Jimmy but found out his name was actually Vincenzo. He grew up thinking his name was James so he legally changed it to James. His mother was Maria Concetta. Her paperwork shows her assimilated name as Mary (which makes sense from Maria), but why was her nickname Jennie?
Had an uncle named Vincenzo, everyone called him Jimmy, but no one could explain why! Thank you for clearing up the mystery.
It’s still not clear. Cenzo to Jimmy??? My aunt was Palma, and they called her Pauline. My Uncle Pete’s name was Perino. On the other side of family, we had Aunt Mil. After death we saw her birth certificate. Her name was Carmela. Everyone thought it was Mildred. Very confusing.
If you leave off the O in the nickname as you’ve written it and just say Chenz it sounds a lot like James. So then taking the nickname of James to Jimmy.