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'''De Bellis Surname

The De Bellis surname is a European last name of Italian origin.

General Comments on Surnames

Determining the first use of last names can be confusing with spelling and pronunciation varying significantly within as little as a single generation. Some factors that have influenced this were relative literacy levels, when and how birth records were recorded, personal preferences, linguistic drift, emigration, and immigration.

During some periods in history, literacy rates have been low with many people unable to read, write, or spell their own names. A common practice in such times was for priests in local churches to record marriage, birth, baptismal, and death records. When the spellings of last names were not certain, priests would either attempt to record last names according to the phonetic practices of the place and time or by recording a similar sounding last name with which the priest was familiar.

A well documented example of how last names can change is the last name or Adolf Hitler. Hitler's father was Alois Hitler, Sr. Records indicate that the father of Alois Hitler was Johann Georg Hiedler. Other records indicate that the uncle of Alois Hitler was Johan Nepomuk Hiedler. Despite the recorded spelling of Hiedler, Alois adopted the spelling Hitler during his lifetime. The motivation for the change in spelling is not clear. Nonetheless, the mere fact of the change provides a historical example of a change of spelling within one generation.

It is also clear that people tend to modify their last names when they emigrate from their native countries. The general motivations for modifications include a desire to better blend into a new culture, a desire to ease dealings with government bureaucracies, and a desire to create emotional distance from the homeland.

Etymology

There are several variations on the De Bellis surname. The Baroque Italian painter Antonio de Bellis (c. 1616 - c. 1656) used a lowercase "d" in the prefix to his last name. The same spelling is utilized today in the Via Vitantoni de Bellis and in the Villa Longo de Bellis in the Bari region of Italy. In contrast, a search for the De Bellis surname in the Linked in@ web site reveals that many contemporary Italian nationals use De Bellis spelled with an upper case letters D and B. Within the U.S.A., people of Italian descent have made modifications to the surname to better fit American English conventions while others have maintained traditional Italian spellings. A review of publicly available records on the Internet revealed the modern use of De Bellis, DeBellis, and Debellis within the U.S.

The surname De Bellis, while of Italian origin, is directly derived from the Latin language. The prefix "de" can be translated as "of" or "about". The Latin word "bellis" means war. English cognates to bellis include bellicose and belligerent.

"De Bellis" occurs in Latin versions of the commentaries of Julius Caesar (Gaius Iulii Caesaris). An example of this is "Commentarii De Bellis" which means "war commentaries" in English. "De Bellis" is also used in a game where is appears as "De Bellis Antiquitatis" and "De Bellis Renationis".

Alternate explanations of the De Bellis surname exist on commercial sites that sell family coats of arms. Many of those cites take the position that De Bellis is derived from the Italian word "bella" meaning beautiful. They speculate that the term might have been used to describe a person of exceptional physical beauty or that it might have been used to express parents' hopes that their child would grow up to be beautiful.

However, the alternative view falls flat for several reasons. First, the prefix "de" is different than the Italian cognate "de". Second, the word "bellis" differs from the Italian words "bello", "bella', "belli", and "belle". Third, the use of "de Bellis" dates back to at least the early part of the 17th Century when the Italian painter Antonio de Bellis was already using the name.  Fourth, Latin was widely taught among the literate classes during the life Antonio de Bellis.  Fifth, Caesar's Commentaries were widely taught and read in the original Latin during the same time period.  This suggests that individuals using the surname would have been aware of the Latin origin and meaning of the words.  Rather than adopting surnames in the Italian language, they chose to retain the last name in the Latin form.