Where the Caudullo surname comes from
Caudullo is one of those surnames scholars can’t agree on. The most authoritative explanation traces it to an ancient personal name, the Germanic Cado, brought to Sicily many centuries ago. Another reference work reads it as a diminutive of Cardo, also an ancient personal name.
Either way, it is a surname born from a person, not from a trade or a place. The PDF tells which linguist put forward the first theory, and what third possibility he left open.
A Caudullo in 1860
In 1860 a Caudullo chaired a committee in Catania. Then he was sent to one of the Etna towns on a wartime assignment. The PDF tells who he was, and which Caudullo born in Piedmont carried the surname into music.
Where the Caudullos live today
Caudullo is a rare and deeply Sicilian surname: there are about 290 families in Italy. Nearly all of them live around Catania, between the city and the towns climbing toward Etna. Outside Sicily there are a few small branches in Lombardy, Lazio and Piedmont, started by families who left in the 1900s looking for work. The PDF has the map and the countries around the world the Caudullos reached.
Variants
The surname has an old spelling, without the u, that survives in the most distant records. Anyone searching for their ancestors should look for both forms.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Caudullo | Sicily, the Catania area |
| Cadullo | Sicily, very rare |
FAQ
What does the surname Caudullo mean?
Its meaning is debated. According to the leading scholar of Sicilian surnames, it comes from the Germanic Cado, an ancient personal name. Another reference work reads it as a diminutive of Cardo.
Is Caudullo a Sicilian surname?
Yes. Nearly all the families live in Sicily, around Catania: in the city itself and in Etna towns such as Belpasso, Bronte, Pedara and Paternò.
Are Caudullo and Cadullo the same surname?
Cadullo is the old spelling of Caudullo, born from the same root. In the registers the same family can appear in both forms. That doesn’t mean all Cadullos and Caudullos are related, though.
Are all Caudullos related?
There’s no way to say. When a surname is this rare and tied to one area, the families are likely to be related. To know for sure you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Caudullo surname noble?
No. It most likely comes from the name of an ordinary person. The Caudullo story is one of towns in the shadow of Etna and parish registers.
Is there a Caudullo family coat of arms?
No single coat of arms belongs to every Caudullo. If one branch had an emblem of its own, it belonged to that house and that town. Almost no Caudullo family ever had a coat of arms.
How many Caudullos are there in the world?
A little over a thousand, perhaps twelve hundred in all. About a thousand live in Italy; the others are mostly in the United States, Argentina and France, where they arrived with Sicilian emigration.
