One of my family surnames is Solimando, and all Solimandos seem to have originated from the same region of Italy — Basilicata. A few years ago, on a whim, I did an online directory search of the name and turned up more than 350 Solimandos in a matter of seconds. Like me, at some point, several of these good folks are going to start wondering about their ancestry. I thought I'd make their lives a little bit easier and somewhat more interesting by listing what I know here.

If you're a Solimando and you're wondering if we're related, the answer is, "Yes!" How closely related we are, however, is yet to be seen. It seems that the name started in Italy, went to France, came to The United States of America, headed south to Argentina and, from there, really spread out. Other surnames linked to the Solimando lineage that I'm aware of include: Abatto, Alebus, Bava, Cartolano, Chinosi, Ciborowski, Coleman, DeLuise (as in the American actor, Dom), DeStefano, DiPuglia, Macarone, Maggi, Mituri, Nigro, Pasguarello, Ranone, Roberts, Roccanova, Rosado, Ruiz, Tempesta and Tomko. If you know of more, please feel free to drop me a line and I will gladly update this listing.

Also, if your family surname hails from Spinoso, Potenza, Italy, chances are that there's a Solimando somewhere in the woodpile. (Hi, cousin!) If you are or are related to a Solimando, I encourage you to enter data on and images of your deceased family members at Find A Grave; and to be as detailed as possible with regard to family ties, especially ones that bind to Solimandos already listed.

And you thought that you had a lot of relatives before!