It's hard to believe that I will only have to correct people for another 10 days on how to pronounce my last name! Or listen to someone butcher the pronunciation. Or throw in extra syllables and vowels that are not in my name. I may not have to immediately spell my last name after saying it---telling people my email address over the phone will be so much easier*! And truly I am looking forward to the simplicity of my soon to be last name.
(***Disclaimer: I know people can be idiots and it is likely that I will have to do or suffer through all of these things, but it won't be the norm.)
But I will miss a lot of things about my last name. For one, I'll miss the "Oh are you related to _________", "Are you from Omaha?", and "As in the restaurants?".
You see, my last name has a lot of history. And a lot of unique history at that. I won't bore you with a full 8th Grade family tree report but here's a little rundown.
My great grandparents immigrated to America from the small town of Sicily, Italy. They actually didn't know each other until they moved to Omaha, NE. They opened up a bakery that they ran with their children. Eventually one of their sons was in the military and was stationed in the east coast. He called home to let his mom know "The gudarouni (never knew how to spell that) you make is really popular out here. They call it pizza!" The Caniglia's turned their bakery into a pizzeria thus starting the success of many Caniglia restaurants. All of their children had different ventures of their own, notable their daughter Grace with Piccolo Pete's (still open), Eli with the Venice Inn (still open), Yano with Mister C's and my Nanu, Al, with Top of the World. My parents actually met at Top of the World so while I never went to that restaurant (closed before I was born) it holds very special meaning to my family. Many of those restaurants were eventually ran by their children and my father himself has had various restaurant ventures. You can read more about my family history here and here if you feel so inclined. All of my family has had success at some point in time. So much that they even did a Travel Channel Food Wars episode on two of the remaining family restaurants!
Similar to my father, I grew up in a restaurant. While he didn't put me to as much work as he was as a kid, I was at his restaurant nearly everyday. He'd pick me up from school and then I'd set up shop somewhere in the restaurant. Many days at the bar across from his office. Some days at a table if I really wanted to spread stuff out. Or running around downstairs playing hide and seek if I had a friend with me...okay and sometimes just by myself :) And on the really nice days, I'd go out with my Dad and Nanu golfing (they golfed, I picked out clubs for them). Hot breadsticks and 'Merry-go-round' drinks were always readily available. Sunday brunches were often a family affair with everyone pitching in...I specialized in the waffle station. The family restaurants are a big part of my childhood memories.
People have always known my last name associated with GREAT food but moving to Arizona has really shown me the impact my family has had. I've had countless people tell me about the Caniglia's restaurants they and their family used to go to. How every big celebration was spent at one of our restaurants. When one of my friend's relatives passed away, they were going through her belongings and found several menus from the Drawing Room that she had kept for sentimental reasons. I don't think I grasped the impact my family's restaurants have had on other families until we moved away and people still recognized my last name.Â
I know that changing my name won't change any of that. I'll still cherish the times with my family at my Dad's restaurant growing up. And Italian food will always be my favorite. I'll always love to tell people about my great grandparents and their story. While I'm only 1/4 Italian (and whiter than white) I've always related the most to my Italian heritage and that won't change. But I will miss the recognition my last name received. Just today I met two different people who knew my last name & family!Â
And because it will always be a part of me, I've decided to keep Caniglia in my name. I'm not doing any of that crazy hyphenation but mearly sliding it to part of my middle name. This way I get to share Paul's last name without losing mine!
And hopefully I won't have to deal with the headaches of a difficult last name anymore!!!Â
