The surname Baldacchino has been spelled in many ways throughout the centuries, unsurprising given the length of the name and its presence in countries with different languages. The surname appears in many forms in the early registers of Malta and Sicily when spellings depended on whoever was keeping the church registers, especially Baldacchino but also Baldachino, Baldachin, Baldakin, even an abbreviated form Baldagno or Baldaqno likely influenced by the Spanish word baldaquino. The spelling Baldacchino was always the prevalent form of the name in both Sicily and Malta and the other forms above did not develop into variant names, passed from generation to generation, in these countries. Note that ‘ino’ is a typical ending for Sicilian surnames.
It lies about 60 miles south of Sicily off the tip of southern Italy (Google Earth)
However, one variant name Ballacchino has been identified in two places in Sicily, Licata and Raffadali. In Licata, where the surname first appears in the church registers in 1642, early name spellings were mainly Ballacchino, Ballachino, Baldacchino and Baldachino. By the early 1700s, Ballacchino became the dominant spelling in the registers and almost no other spelling was found until the telephone directory of 2003 where 4 of the 150 entries are spelled Baldacchino rather than Ballacchino. It seems likely that a few Baldacchinos from other parts of Sicily had moved to Licata by this late date. The surname Ballacchino made a later but strong appearance in Raffadali as well, first seen in the registers in 1822. Even with this later appearance, Ballacchinos (and close spellings) accounted for almost 20% of Raffadali baptism records in the town’s registers available from 1592 to 1900. However, there is little evidence of the name in present-day Raffadali. This variant has now spread to other countries, especially the United States where it is most frequently seen as Ballachino with one ‘c’.
The Baldachino spelling of the surname, a transient spelling or misspelling of the name in Malta and Sicily, did become a variant name and is now the dominant form of the surname in Gibraltar. Several contractors arrived in Gibraltar from Malta in the latter 1800s to work at the dockyards and remained in Gibraltar thereafter. A local story is that the British soldier registering one of these contractors misspelled his name as Baldachino, dropping the double ‘c’ that the contractor was born with. While the double ‘c’ can still be found in some signatures on documents, the Baldachino version of the name almost immediately became the way it was spelled in Gibraltar’s church records and today, rarely any other spelling of the name can be found. The spelling in the English records of Gibraltar was likely influenced by the word baldachin, the English form of the Italian word baldacchino.
There are far more incidences of the variant Baldachino in France than Gibraltar but, in France, this spelling accounts for less than 20% of all residents with the surname Baldacchino or Baldachino. Both spellings have been found in Algeria and Tunisia since the early 19th century. Baldacchinos from Malta had settled in these previously French territories and relocated to France as these countries gained their independence in the 20th century.
Another variant name, Baldaquin, appeared in Algeria in the 1800s amongst many Baldacchinos in the French colony of Algeria at that time. The Baldacchinos in Algeria had migrated there from Malta beginning in the early 1800s. Baldaquin is a French spelling of the Italian word baldacchino. The Baldaquin surname made its way to France along with the exodus of Maltese and other Europeans as wars of independence took hold in North Africa in the 20th century and forebears.io estimates that there are 44 Baldaquins in France today.
The Baldoquin surname, also seen with an accented ‘i’ as Baldoquín, is most prevalent in Cuba and has since spread to the United States. There is evidence of a Baldoquin, identified as a native of Malta, dying in Cuba in 1804. Also, a Baldoquin whose family is from Cuba recently matched exactly with Mark’s Big-Y 700 DNA haplogroup, Mark’s ancestors being Maltese. There is also a significant line of Baldoquins in the Philippines. The origin of the Filipino line has not yet been determined.
A small number of people have been found with the variant Baldaccino where the ‘h’ is omitted. Seven holders of the surname are identified in Argentina by forebears.io. It is not yet clear if the Argentinian families descend from Italian or Maltese ancestors, likely from 20th century migration.
Another recent variant of Baldacchino is a very small line using spelling Baldacckino. This surname appeared in the Manchester, England area in the 20th century and has now passed through at least three generations. Joseph, the patriarch of this line, had been born in Malta as a Baldacchino in 1922 and was buried in Manchester in 1980 as a Baldacckino.
There is another Italian surname, Baldacchini, that appears to be unrelated to the Baldacchino surname. The Baldacchini surname is mainly concentrated in central Italy near Rome and is not part of this study. Also, various spellings of Baldokhina and Valdokhina have been found mainly in Russia and are not likely to be related to the surnames of this study.