Most Italian Americans are Campanian origin, going by surnames.

[Sikeliot]

I went through the friends lists of three of my cousins in New Jersey and looked up each surname to see which part of Italy they came from. This is what I got, when picking 100 people at random.

Campania: 37
Sicily: 20
Apulia: 13
Calabria: 6
Basilicata: 3
Piedmont: 3
Emilia-Romagna: 3
Lombardia: 3
Lazio: 3
Friuli: 2
Abruzzo: 2
Sardinia: 1
Liguria: 1
Molise: 1
Tuscany: 1


= 100


Of these, 79% are southern Italian surnames. But most are Campanian.

[Peyrol]

Which are the piemontese surnames?

[Sikeliot]

I forget. I looked them up and recorded the answers.

But anyway, this makes total sense to me. Most Italian Americans are not Sicilian unlike what people seem to think, nor do most of them look it or have the surnames. I've always known this.

[Peyrol]

It isn't surprising btw, the absolute majority of them can trace their roots down of Rome...

[WOOHP]

So, 1 of 5 Italian Americans I've seen are originally from North Italy? Where do most North Italian Americans live?

[riverman]

Most Italian americans I've known weren't Sicilian, afaik

[Mark]

In my experience, most Italian Americans on the east coast are Sicilian, Neapolitan and Calbrese.

[Sikeliot]

So, 1 of 5 Italian Americans I've seen are originally from North Italy? Where do most North Italian Americans live?

These were all people from New Jersey.

1/5 are non-southern Italian, not necessarily northern. I counted Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily for that 79%.

The point was I knew going into this, that the vast majority would be Campanian, despite people saying most Italian Americans are Sicilian. It's just not true. I've barely seen any of the typical Sicilian surname endings on Italian Americans' names (-aci, -ari/-eri, -(i)ello, -ala, -ara).

[Peyrol]

It would be interesting see which are the piemontese and lombard surnames, i'm really interested in this.





Anyway, here my surname in Italy and in the US...lol at the USA diffusion...

[WOOHP]

I thought that Calabrese Italians formed the largest group.