To the best of our ability, these are the meanings of the surnames that our families are connected with.
Furmato
It’s been told to me frequently in my family that the surname Furmato, which was changed upon our ancestors arrival to America from Formato, is possibly an Italian version of the name Smith, an old English name meaning ‘metal worker, or blacksmith’, as in one who forms. However, my research provides an argument to that idea. To truly stick to the equal of Smith in Italian, we’d have go with the’ Italian word for ‘metal worker, or blacksmith’, which is ‘fabro’, or ‘ferraio’. The latter should be very familiar to us, as it’s the base for the famous car maker Ferrari. It’s not only so well known because of it’s automotive fame, but it’s also one of the top five Italian surnames, (other versions of it fall in the top 100.) Compare that to the popularity of Smith. Formato on the other hand, with any version of it, is not seen in the top 200.
Another possibility is that from a reduced form of a compound name, Benformato, ‘well made’, ‘well built.’ If you conduct a reverse search on Google’s Translate app, from English to Italian, and enter in the word ‘formed’, you will get ‘formato’. Which leads to the question, formed what? Let’s leave that for another time.
It’s similarities to the musical term fermata can not be ignored, and although the two words are totally different, it’s hard not to not comment.
A fermata 
is a musical term meaning “a stop, a pause” originating around 1876. It is taken from the Italian word ‘fermare’, meaning ‘stop’, and also the Latin word firmus, ‘strong, stable’. It was remarked to me by a piano teacher of my daughter, who after hearing her last name, and attempting to teach her the musical concept, said it means “to hold, for a long time.”
Masia
When family arrived in the US from Italy, the name Mascia was simplified to Masia. In it’s current usage, the word mascia comes from Southern Italy and depending upon the region meant one of two things. In Sicily it was the male form of a female occupation, ‘dressmaker’. If hailing from Salentine, it would have meant ‘mask’.
Bernaducci
The name Bernard was more commonly used as a first name. It comes from Northern European roots meaning ‘bear’ + ‘hard’ or brave, hardy, strong as a bear. After the life of St. Bernard of Menthon, (923 – 1008, who founded mountain rescue organizations in the Alps) the name was so popular it began to be taken as a surname as well. With the Italian suffix “ucci” meaning “son of”, it is likely that the name Bernarducci would mean “son of Bernard”.
Nicolais
Said to be one of the oldest family names from the French region of Brittany. It stems from the Greek first name Nicolas, meaning ‘victory of the people’. A compound of ‘nike’=victory, and ‘laos’=people. The variation Nicolais appears to have influences of Greek in it as there was a large migration of Greeks into Italy during the 8th century.
The name became popular after the life of Saint Nicholas of Myra, the inspiration for Santa Claus, but it was older by hundreds of years. It was a name mentioned amongst delegates sent to the Persian king during the 400bc Peloponnesian War.
Cerretta
meaning…
Cucci
meaning…
Trezza
meaning…
Palazzolo
meaning…
Eberhardt
An old Germanic name, meaning ‘strength of a wild boar’ or ‘courage of a wild boar’.
Getz
meaning…
Warren
meaning…
Fiordaliso
meaning…
Wordelmann
meaning…
Kirchoff
meaning…
Scalero
meaning…