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Data on grandparental surnames were obtained from children in 45 Italo-Albanesi villages in nine provinces of southern Italy and Sicily. Concordance of surnames (isonymy) and inbreeding by village were estimated for each province and on the total sample. Total mean isonymy is 0·0251. The weighted mean inbreeding coefficient, and its random and non-random components are 0·0063, 0·0024 and 0·0039, respectively. Isonymy values are similar to those of rural Italian villages except that Alpine and some Appennine villages appear to be more isolated and inbred. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Surnames were obtained for the second half of the 20th century from civil and religious marriage registers on fifteen Provençal-Italian and five Italian villages of Cuneo Province, Italy. To insert in the analysis an outward comparison, surnames from two Italian villages of Turin Province, one parish of Turin, one village of Alessandria Province and one village of Asti Province were also collected. Ethnicity does not seem to be the main factor affecting the present genetic structure of the Provençal-Italians. They are an open community, and evidence the end of the genetic isolation of the alpine populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]