The Brusca and Brusco Relationship

For years I speculated on what relationship existed between the names Brusca and Brusco. I suspected that there must be some connection but I didn't have any evidence to support that theory. Art Brusco, Of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, tells me that many of the Brusco families in the Keystone state are actually descended from the Brusca famility of Alvito, Italy. During a visit to Alvito in the Summer of 1992, the town archivist confirmed that indeed the Bruscos from that town are from the Brusca family. The archivist speculated that the name change occurred as a result of a family disagreement about 100 years ago. It seems that one of the Brusca patriarchs was quite wealthy. When he died, he left all of his riches to the church. The hiers who were counting on being included in his will we left with nothing. That made many of the hiers upset. The heirs who wanted to distance themselves from the Brusca family supposedly adopted the Brusco name.

This is just one possible explanation. If you've heard any others, please feel free to pass them along.