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Re: Parish / used to be Parishione
It would seem rather obvious that the name comes from someone who lived in or near a church district. I suspect the latter is either a French or Italian variant ...

Other similar names would be Churchill, Kirkland, Prescott (Priest's Cottage)...
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In Italian instead of "parish" there are some surnames that derive from "Pieve" an old roman catholic circonscription that have disappeared now.
So here are the surnames:

PIOVANI
PIOVANO
PIOVANELLI
PIOVAN /regional from Venice.
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I agree that it is unlikely that 'Parishione' is an Italian surname. The 'sh' combination looks very 'un-Italian' to me.
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Closest I can find is 'Aparicione'.
See www.homunculus.com/babel/sampletext/onomasticon.html
(They say it means 'the apparition (of Christ)')
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