The Italian name ANNUNZIATA was a baptismal name originally rendered from the Greek 'Anastasis' meaning resurrection. The name was written in medieval documents in the Latin form ANASTASIA. The name has numerous variant spellings which include ANSTIS, ANSTEYS, ANASTAY, STASSI and ANASTACIO. As the agricultural depression of southern Italy worsened towards the end of the 19th century, people began to escape to the New World. The exodus started in earnest in 1887 with Brazil and other parts of Latin America being the original destinations. By 1893, the economy had improved in the United States and people headed there from Italy in greater and greater numbers. In 1898 there were more Italian immigrants to the USA than from any other country. In the post war era, more than a quarter of Italians left the country for a new life. They joined a flood of immigrants to America which was averaging a million a year in the pre war years. The origins of Italian surnames are not clear, and much work remains to be done on medieval Italian records. It seems that fixed bynames, in some cases hereditary, were in use in the Venetian Republic by the end of the 10th century. The typical Italian surname endings are 'i' and 'o', the former being characteristic of northern Italy. The singular form 'o' is more typical of southern Italy. A notable member of this name was Grand Duchess ANASTASIA Nikolaievna Romanov (l90l-?l9l8) youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and believed to have perished when the Romanov family were executed by the Bolsheviks in a cellar in Ekaterinburg on l9th July l9l8. Various people have claimed to be Anastasia, especially Mrs. 'Anna Anderson', Manahan, who died in Virginia USA, in l984 at the age of 82. She had been rescued from a suicide attempt in a Berlin canal in l9l8, and for more than 30 years fought unsuccessfully to establish her identity as Anastasia, living under the name of Anna Anderson; most of the surviving members and friends of the Romanov family were sceptical or downright hostile. Her story inspired two films 'Anastasia' and 'Is Anna Anderson Anastasia?' and several books.