The Rando family of Ustica rank 15th in size making them one of the larger families from the island. They are a first family of Ustica appearing in 1766 with the marriages of Angela Rando to Giuseppe Sciacchitano, and Maria Rando to Giuseppe Randazzo. And, it is with these two early Ustica marriage records that we are confronted with the first of two complicating factors in unraveling the ancient lineage of the Rando family of Ustica - a major surname change. In Angela's marriage record, the surname is the familiar Rando, but in Maria's, the surname is Orlando. That's a pretty significant difference and, because the surname change happens very early in the Ustica records, it went undetected at the Ustica Genealogy Homepage until the recent availability of the Ustca church records. By 1777 there is no further use of Orlando in reference to members of the Rando family. And to be certain, Anna and Maria are from the same family. They were sisters, both children of Domenico Rando/Orlando and Bartolomea Picone. Both parents lived and died on Ustica, she in 1792 and he in 1798. Domenico's brother Giacomo Rando/Orlando and his wife Giovanna Famularo, also lived on Ustica but did not contribute any descendants bearing the Rando name.

Surname confusion? Look's like Orlando has been scribbled over with Rando in this 1740 Lipari baptism record for a child of Domenico Orlando and Bartolomea Picone.

In the Lipari church records we encounter the other challenge. Several baptism records for this family indicate that they lived on the island of Filicudi lying far to west of Lipari. While this was still within the parish of Lipari, the remoteness surely contributed to a lack of representation in the Lipari church registers. Thankfully there are enough records to piece together the family history. The parents of Domenico and Giacomo Rando/Orlando were Giuseppe Rando/Orlando and Caterina D'Agati. They were married in 1699 on Lipari and the marriage record indicates that Giuseppe was a native of Gioiosa Marea, where so many immigrants to Lipari orginated.

The island of Filicudi lies far to the west of Lipari. Gioiosa Marea lies on the Sicilian coast just south of Lipari island in the hotspot where so many families of Lipari originated.

Caterina D'Agati was from Lipari. Giuseppe's parents are documented as Antonino and Angela Orlando. That was probably not her surname by birth, and there is no evidence that they ever lived on Lipari. But, this is not the end for other branches of this family. Records for Orlando/Rando families stretch back to the 1568 birth of a child to Orlando d'Orlando. Now how's that for a name! Orlando is the original form of the surname. The use of Rando does not appear until around 1667 and the two surname variants are used interchangeably thereafter. In fact, both Rando and Orlando are in use to this day. On Ustica, however, Rando ruled the day and all descendants of Domenico Rando and Bartolomea Picone go by Rando. Use the family charts at the Ustica Genealogy Homepage to discover your path back to the ancient origins of the Rando family of Ustica.