This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

Re: DelTufo ...meaning of this Italian name
This surname in Italy is written Del Tufo comes from local toponymy of the area near NAPLES. Namely near BENEVENTO. A village called Tufo
exists near AVELLINO, a nearby city.
From this area many emigrants have left to America.See other variants:
Tufo, more common
Tufi, near Rome or near PerugiaThe word "fufo" in italian is a name of a rock "tufa".
vote up1vote down

Replies

Thanks ...however, I wasn't able to find either "fufo" or "tufa", but would it be related to "tuffare" which means to plunge? Maybe a rock or cliff that plunges down a ravine?Thanks again!
vote up1vote down
I am sorry, it was a mistake, it is not "fufo" but TUFO.
Another surname TUFFI exists, it could be just a variant of TUFI, double consonant chamge pronounciation, but often have no special meaning in Italian.
Both Tufi and Tuffi exist just in Lazio region, near Rome,
See the site www.gens.labo.net, italian surnames or italian white pages: tape for località "Lazio" or the name of provincial main town "Frosinone" or "fr" the initial letters of the city.Italian white pages www.paginebianche.it.In northern italy the variant of the place names TUFO is TOVO.
There are two villages called TovoTovo-San Giacomo (St James)near Genoa
Tovo di Sant'Agata (St Agatha) in northern Lombardy near the Swiss border.Surnames coming from the name of this places are:Tovi
Tovini
Tovani (beared in USA as well)
vote up1vote down
I just checked this book : "Our Italian Surnames," by Joseph G. Fucilla, published 1949, reprinted 1987. Page 239 does not define Del TUFO, but in a discussion of the anglicization of Italian surnames, the author states (without providing his source): "Here belongs the strange transformation of Del Tufo into Dell." He treats the mineral name TUFO on page 98.Reg Niles
vote up1vote down