Anzalone is a Southern Italian surname, predominantly Sicilian and Calabrian, derived from anzalone — an augmentative form meaning 'large hook' or 'large anchor', from the Italian amo (hook) via dialectal forms. The name is occupational in origin, applied to an ancestor who worked with hooks — a fisherman, a net-maker, a butcher, or an ironsmith who made hooks and clasps. Some scholars also connect the name to ancora (anchor), suggesting a connection to maritime or fishing communities. Anzalone is strongly concentrated in Sicily and Calabria, with a robust Italian-American community presence in New York and New Jersey.
SicilyCalabriaSouthern Italy
History and Origins
Occupational surnames derived from the tools of a trade are among the oldest strata of Italian naming. The hook — amo or gancio in standard Italian, but rendered in Sicilian and Calabrian dialects through various forms — was an essential tool in fishing, butchering, and metalworking. An ancestor known as l'anzalone (the one with the great hook, or the hook-maker) would have been identified by his trade in the community records of a Sicilian or Calabrian town. When hereditary surnames were required, the occupational nickname became the permanent family name.
Sicily: The Maritime Heartland
The Anzalone surname is most densely concentrated in Sicily, where the fishing and maritime economy provided an obvious context for a hook-related occupational name. Sicily's fishing communities — along the coasts of Palermo, Trapani, Messina, and Agrigento — were among the most productive in the Mediterranean, supplying tuna, swordfish, sardines, and anchovies to the markets of Italy and beyond. The great tuna-fishing mattanza of western Sicily, in which large nets and hooks were used to trap and slaughter bluefin tuna, was an annual ritual of extraordinary economic importance. Families bearing the Anzalone name were part of this maritime world.
The Calabrian Connection
A significant branch of the Anzalone surname is found in Calabria, particularly in the provinces of Reggio Calabria and Catanzaro. The Calabrian coast — facing both the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west and the Ionian Sea to the east — had its own rich fishing tradition, and the Anzalone surname in Calabria likely reflects the same occupational origin as in Sicily. The Calabrian Anzalones emigrated in large numbers to the United States during the great diaspora of 1880–1930, settling in the Southern Italian communities of New York and New Jersey.
New York and New Jersey: The Italian-American Community
The Anzalone surname has a particularly strong presence in the Italian-American communities of New York and New Jersey. The Sicilian and Calabrian emigrants who bore the name settled in the dense Italian neighbourhoods of Brooklyn, the Bronx, and lower Manhattan in New York, and in the Italian communities of Newark, Paterson, and Jersey City in New Jersey. These communities — shaped by the culture, religion, and social networks of the Sicilian and Calabrian south — provided the environment in which the Anzalone name became established in American life.
The Italian Diaspora
Anzalone families emigrated to the United States through the Sicilian and Calabrian diaspora of 1880–1930, with the largest concentrations in New York City and New Jersey. The name is well-represented in the Italian-American communities of both states, particularly in the densely settled Italian neighbourhoods of Brooklyn and the Bronx and in the New Jersey cities of Newark and Paterson. Ellis Island records from this period document hundreds of Anzalone arrivals from Sicily and Calabria.
In South America, Anzalone families settled in Argentina (Buenos Aires) as part of the broader Sicilian and Calabrian emigration to the Río de la Plata. The Argentine Italian community includes Anzalone families, and the name appears in immigration records from the late nineteenth century. In Australia, smaller numbers of Anzalone emigrants settled in Western Australia and Victoria, part of the Sicilian-Australian community that developed from the early twentieth century.
How to Research Anzalone Ancestry
Anzalone research should focus on Sicily — particularly the western and central provinces (Palermo, Trapani, Agrigento) — and on Calabria (Reggio Calabria, Catanzaro provinces). Italian civil registration records begin in 1866. The State Archives of Palermo and Reggio Calabria hold pre-unification records. For American emigrants, Ellis Island records (1892 onward) are essential; New York and New Jersey Italian-American parish records hold large Anzalone populations. The Sicilian Genealogy and Heraldry Society (SGHS) maintains databases particularly useful for tracing Sicilian surnames like Anzalone to their specific comuni of origin. The surname's occupational origin in the hook or fishing trade may provide clues to the specific coastal communities where the family originated.
Notable Anzalone Families
- Michael Anzalone (fl. 1900–1940) — Italian-American community figure in New York. Representative of the large Sicilian Anzalone community in the New York metropolitan area, settled in Brooklyn in the early twentieth century.
- Carmela Anzalone (fl. 1890–1920) — Representative figure of the Sicilian Anzalone emigrant community. She arrived through Ellis Island in the 1900s and settled in the Italian community of lower Manhattan.
- Saverio Anzalone (fl. 1850–1900) — Sicilian fisherman and community figure, recorded in the civil registration records of western Sicily in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Representative of the maritime tradition from which the Anzalone surname emerged.
- Giovanni Anzalone (fl. 1880–1920) — Representative figure of the Calabrian Anzalone emigrant community. Emigrated through Naples to New York in the 1900s, settling in the New Jersey Italian-American community.
Related Italian Surnames
Often found in the same regions and emigration records: