Antica ed illustre famiglia, originaria di Touraine, in Francia, propagatasi, nel corso dei secoli, in diverse regioni d’Europa e d’Italia. Dalla celebre opera di JB Rietstap, ” L’Armorial Général”, rinveniamo che, tal casato, venne nobilitato nel 1741, T questa famiglia nobilitata nel 1741, col titolo di Barone di Champchevier, del cui feudo fu investito. Altro ramo. Antica famiglia, di origine inglese, venuta in Galizia, nella persona di un Giovanni. I discendenti di questo, successivamente, giunsero in Portogallo e, precisamente, nell’isola di Terceira. Un Pedro, di Giovanni e Francisca da Silva, visse con virtù in detta isola e fu il primo servitore delle sue forze armate. Tale famiglia fu elevata al grado di nobiltà, con lettere patenti del 28 gennaio 1539, in Persona di D. Giovanni III, per i suoi alti servigi resi alla patria, sotto assedio, da parte del re di Fez. Altro ramo. Antica ed illustre famiglia romana originaria di Touraine, di cui, purtroppo, da remoto tempo non sono più pervenuti aggiornamenti araldici. Tuttavia, che i membri della famiglia Canto siano stati di elevata condizione, lo riprova la presenza del casato nel “Dizionario Storico-Blasonico” del commendatore G.B. di Crollalanza che ne ha raccolte le tracce lasciate dalla famiglia, in quelle città ove ebbe dimora, ricoprendo cariche legislative, militari o altro, contribuendo non poco alla riuscita di quei documenti utili alla scoperta di questa famiglia.

. Riguardo a questo cognome abbiamo ritrovato ulteriori informazioni storiche in altri archivi. Purtroppo in lingua originale Inglese. : This Spanish and Portugese topographic name of CANTO meant ‘one who dwelt on a patch of stoney ground, or near a quarrey’. It was also a metonymic occupational name for a quarry man or mason, primarily rendered in the Latin form CANTUS (the rim or edge of a wheel). Many of the modern family names throughout Europe reflect the profession or occupation of their forbears in the Middle Ages and derive from the position held by their ancestors in the village, noble household or religious community in which they lived and worked. The addition of their profession to their birth name made it easier to identify individual tradesmen and craftsmen. As generations passed and families moved around, so the original identifying names developed into the corrupted but simpler versions that we recognise today. Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their Last Name as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God. However much the individual may have liked or disliked the Last Name, they were stuck with it, and people infrequently modified them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. In the 8th century, Spain fell under the control of the Moors, and this influence, which lasted into the 12th century, has also left its mark on Hispanic last names. A few names are based directly on Arabic personal names. The majority of Spanish occupational and nickname last names, however, are based on ordinary Spanish derivatives. In Spain identifying patronymics are to be found as early as the mid-9th century, but these modified with each generation, and hereditary last names seem to have come in slightly later in Spain than in England and France. As well as the names of the traditional major saints of the Christian Church, many of the most common Spanish last names are extrapolated from personal name of Germanic origin. For the most part these names are characteristically Hispanic. They derive from the language of the Visigoths, who controlled Spain between the mid-5th and early 8th centuries….
Noble title: Nobili
Coat of arms: Di rosso, a due pesci addossati d’argento…