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The Italian surname Quaranta belongs to that group of surnames which are based on a numeral. As stated by the author, Joseph J. Fucilla, the Romans frequently employed ordinal numbers, of which Certius (third) is one, to indicate the numerical position or orderof the birth of a child as compared to that of his brothers and sisters. In the case of the surname,Quaranta, this name comes from the word "quaranta" which means "forty". One of the earliest references to this name is a record of a family bearing the name Quaranta from Naples, whose members settled there during the reign of Guaimaro IV. It is said that a member of this family, a medieval knight, adopted Quaranta as his surname after he led forty pilgrims from the Holy Land and routed the Saracens from Salerno. The name has also been associated with the Italians, meaning, "one who was born on the day of the Feast of the Forty Martyrs".

There were many notable bearers of the Quaranta name. Among them were Gianfrancesco Quaranta (1562-1620), a Capuchin friar and professor of philosophy and theology, Salvatore Quaranta, a scholar mentioned in 1612, Andrea Quaranta, a cleric and writer sited in 1632, and Bernardo Quaranta (1796-1867), a professor of archaeology. Other distinquished notables included Costantino Quaranta (1813-1887), a composer, Filippo Quaranta, a magistrate born in 1851, and Bernardo Quaranta, a writer born in 1871.
     First evidence of this family's existance in America is verified by the "Italians in America", which notes that Salvatore and Commaso Quaranta arrived in New York City on December 14th, 1880. aboard the "Italia", which sailed from Marseilles, Naples, and Palermo. There is a possiblity, however, that the name Quaranta could have been introduced here at an earlier date.
     When researching the Quaranta name, you may have difficulty finding it with the exact spelling you use today. It may have been spelled differently hundreds of years ago, or you may find that one of your ancestors may have changed the spelling of the name. It is likely that you will find several different spellings. Languages changes and carelessness contributed to this, as did high instances of illiteracy contributed to the numbers of ways a name may have been spelled. Many times the town clerk would spell names the way they sounded to him! Because of this, surname dictionaries list such spelling variations as Quarantelli, Quaranti, Quatanto, Quarantas, Quartarara, and Quartararo. There is only a small percentage of those living in the world today who still bear the old and distinguished Quaranta name

Check out the QUARANTA website: manintained by Debra Quaranta

http://quaranta.homestead.com/files/front.html