There are 221 two T Fiorittos in the US

Published: 12/12/2024

In the 2010 census there were only 221 Fiorittos in the US. We're pretty rare. Occasionally someone will ask me if I know such-and-such Fiorito and it's always a one T Fiorito, but a two T Fioritto? It's never happened. Between my brother and I, (with some help from our wives 😉) we've managed to increase the number of two T Fiorittos by almost 6%!

This summer Beth I had the privilege of going for a sail on one of the few Tall Ships currently sailing Lake Michigan. For people who love sailing this is a rare treat and something that typically costs a decent chunk of change to do,but an old friend was one of the crew and invited us aboard.

So that is how I found myself sailing on Lake Michigan and talking to one of the crew when she said, "You know, one of the crew is a Fioritto too?"

I said, "How many T's?"

She said, "I think it's two T's."

Well that's never happened before. Cool!

I asked which crew member and she pointed her out. I went over to say hello and said, "So your last name is Fioritto? Do you spell it with one T or two?" She said she spelled it with two.

My mind was blown. What were the odds? I've just met a two T Fioritto in the middle of Lake Michigan on one of a handful of Tall Ships still sailing the lake. This was wild!

But she didn't care.

As far as she was concerned it was about as exciting as if we'd just discovered we were both wearing the same colored socks. I couldn't get her to talk about it at all. I don't even know where she's from or if she has any connections to my family.

We sailed home and that was it. All I'm left with from my one and only interaction with another two T Fioritto is that from time to time I remember that moment and feel a bit angry at her ... so I'm cursed to occasionally spend a moment of my time being a little angry at her over and over again for the rest of my life. Awesome.