Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
ABBRUZZESE ItalianHabitational name for someone originally from Abruzzo, a region in southern Italy.
ABREO French, ItalianAbreo or its variant Abreu comes from the French Alfred (alf = Elf; fred = conseil). The meaning is
wise counselor.... [
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ABRUZZESE ItalianRegional name for someone from the Abruzzi, a mountainous region of Italy east of Rome (cf.
ABRUZZO).
ABRUZZO ItalianRegional name for someone from the Abruzzi, a mountainous region of Italy east of Rome (cf.
ABRUZZESE).
ACQUAVIVA ItalianFrom an Italian place name meaning "running water, spring", literally "living water".
ACRI ItalianHabitational name from a place in Cosenza province named Acri.
AGASSI Armenian, Persian, ItalianThe surname Agassi most likely evolved from a nickname for someone resembling a mappie, perhaps jokingly referred to as chattering or nagging person. ... [
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AGIRMO Italiantwo hypotheses: either from the Greek
agyrmos meaning "symposium, meeting" which was the name of the first day of the
Misteri Eleusini in Athens.... [
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AGOSTINELLI ItalianThe earliest known instance of this name AGOSTINELLI was St. Aurelius Augustinus, also known as Augustine of Hippo (354-430) the greatest of the Latin church fathers. He was born in Tagaste in Numidia which is modern Tunisia.... [
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ALBANESE ItalianSouthern Italian : ethnic name from albanese ‘(an) Albanian’, applied to someone from Albania or from one of the Albanian settlements in Abruzzo, Apulia, Campania, and Sicily.
ALBERTI ItalianFrom given name Alberto, the Latin translation of Germanic Albert.
ALFANI Italian(or Alfano) three possibilities: from the German word
halfer ("helper"), from a place called Alfano, which is supposed to be from the Arab
al fannan ("wild donkey"), and Alfana is the name of a race (as in type) of Arab horses, so could be someone related to horses.
ALGIERI ItalianAlgieri is classified as a geographical surname. Specifically, it is a nation name, referring to the country of Algeria in northern Africa.
ALIGHIERI ItalianFrom the given name
Alighiero, Italian form of
Aldiger. A famous bearer of this surname is Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), author of the Divine Comedy.
ALPINI Italian(or Alpino) possibly denoting a person from the Alpes.
AMEGLIO ItalianThere are two hypotheses: the first is it derived from the Latin name Amelius which came from Amius, name of Etruscan origin; the other is it derived from Amali, name of a mighty Ostrogothic family, which means "virgin of the forest".
AMMAZZALORSO ItalianFrom the profession of bear hunter, meaning literally "slaughter the bear".
ANGELO ItalianFrom a popular medieval personal name,
Angelo, Latin
Angelus, from Greek
angelos "messenger, angel" (considered as a messenger sent from God).
ANGELONI ItalianMeans "great angels" in Italian. It derives from Biblical Latin
angelus meaning "angel", ultimately from Ancient Greek
angelos, originally meaning "messenger", changing meaning in the Bible.
ANGRISANI ItalianFrom Angrisano, a habitational name for someone from Angri in Salerno province.
ANZALONE ItalianThe surname Anzalone was first found in Bolgna (Latin: Bononia).
APICELLA ItalianSouthern Italian: from a diminutive of apa ‘bee’, probably applied as a nickname for an industrious person, or possibly as a metonymic occupational name for a beekeeper.
APOLLO Italian, SpanishFrom the Greek personal name
Apollo. There are several saints Apollo in the Christian Church, including an Egyptian hermit and monastic leader who died in 395 ad. The personal name derives from the name in classical mythology of the sun god,
Apollo, an ancient Indo-European name, found for example in Hittite as
Apulana "god of the gate" (from
pula "gate", cognate with Greek
pylē), therefore "protector, patron".
AQUILA ItalianHabitational name from L'Aquila in Abruzzo or from any of various smaller places called Aquila.
ARÀBIA Italian, SpanishEthnic name for someone from Arabia or some other Arabic-speaking country or a nickname for someone who had visited or traded with one of these countries.
ARALDI ItalianMeans “heralds” in Italian. Famous bearers include Italian painters Alessandro Araldi (c. 1460 – c. 1529) and Paolo Araldi (18th century – after 1820).
ARENALDI Italian (Rare)Originally found in the Campania, Foggia area. Derived from the medieval name of Germanic origin Arenaldus or Arinaldus
ARGENTO ItalianFrom
argento "silver", perhaps sometimes applied as a nickname for someone with silvery gray hair, but more often a metonymic occupational name for a silversmith.
ARIOSTO ItalianFrom the Germanic given name
Ariost, meaning "battle-ready". A famous bearer of this surname is Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533).
ARLOTTA SicilianFrom the French personal name Arlot, recorded in the Latinized form Arolottus from the 13th century.
ARMENIA Italian, Catalan, Spanish, PortugueseEthnic name or regional name for someone from Armenia or who had connections with Armenia. This surname is derived from the feminine form of
Armenio, which is ultimately from Greek Αρμένιος (
Armenios) meaning "Armenian"... [
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ARRA Galician, SicilianHabitational name from a place in Galicia called Arra, this surname was also found in some parts of Sicily.
ARRIGO ItalianItalian: from the medieval personal name Arrigo, a variant of Enrico.
ASCENCIO Spanish, ItalianFrom the personal name (Latin Ascensius), favored by the early Christians, by whom it was bestowed with reference to the ascension of Christ (Late Latin ascensio).
ASPERGES ItalianIt means "you bless", and it is also the device used by priests to spread holy water over people or places
ASTONI ItalianIt is the surname of the Home and Away family, The Astoni family, consisting of 4 members, Ben, Maggie, Coco and Ziggy.
ASTORE ItalianDerived from Italian
astore meaning "goshawk", which is a bird of prey that was used for hunting in the Middle Ages. The surname had first started out as a nickname: either for a falconer, or for a person who had aquiline features or who was cunning by nature.
AUDINO ItalianDerived from first name 'Alda' which means 'wise and experienced.'
AUGELLO ItalianItalian (Campania) dialect variant of
Uccello ‘bird’, hence either a nickname for a diminutive, birdlike person or an occupational name for a fowler. Compare
Auciello.
AVAMILANO Spanish, ItalianOf Spanish origin, but probably has its roots in Italy due to the word "milano" which means Milan in Italian.
AVENA Spanish, ItalianA traditionally Spanish and Italian occupational surname for a "grain grower or merchant", or the Italian habitation surname for Avena, Calabria. Means "oats". From the Latin
avēna meaning 'oats, wild oats, straw'.
AZUAJE-FIDALGO Portuguese (Rare), Spanish, ItalianFidalgo from Galician and Portuguese
filho de algo — equivalent to "nobleman", but sometimes literally translated into English as "son of somebody" or "son of some (important family)"—is a traditional title of Portuguese nobility that refers to a member of the titled or untitled nobility... [
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BAFFA ItalianThe origins of this surname are uncertain, but it may be from Italian
baffo "mustache", with the Latinate feminine suffix probably due to the influence of the word
famiglia "family". Alternatively it may be Albanian in origin, of unexplained meaning.
BAIO ItalianFrom a nickname for someone with light brown or reddish-brown hair or beard, from
baio meaning "bay horse", ultimately derived from Late Latin
badius meaning "red-brown".
BALDACCHINO Maltese, Italian, SicilianOccupational name for an artisan who made the baldachin, also spelled baldaquin, a type of canopy used in cathedrals, from Italian
baldacchino "baldachin". This word is derived from Italian
Baldacca, a doublet of
Bagdad "
Baghdad", the city where the material originally came from.
BALLERINI ItalianOccupational name or nickname for a dancer, Italian
ballerino, an agent derivative of
ballare "to dance".
BALMA ItalianPerhaps a topographic name from the dialect word
balma meaning ‘grotto’, ‘cave’, ‘jutting rock’.
BALSANO German (Austrian), ItalianThe roots of the distinguished surname Balzano lie in Austria. The name derives itself from "Balthasar," the name of one of the three Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem, and was popular as both a first name and a family name during the 18th century.... [
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BANDI ItalianDerived from Late Latin
Bandus itself from the Germanic
band and the Latin
banda, all meaning "sign, emblem, banner". It can also derive from the Italian word
bando meaning "announcement" from the Germanic
bann.
BARBERA ItalianDerogatory nickname from barbera ‘barber’s wife’, a term also used to denote a prostitute or dishonest woman. Catalan (Barberà): habitational name from a place in Tarragona province, named with Late Latin Barbarianum ‘place of Barbarius’, a derivative of Barbarus (see Barbaro)... [
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BARNO Italian, Ukrainian, French, Ancient Aramaic, RussianThe surname Barno was first found in the north of Italy, especially in Tuscany. The name occasionally appears in the south, usually in forms which end in "o," but the northern forms ending in "i" are much more common... [
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BARTOLOTTA ItalianBartolotta was the name taken by the followers of Saint Bartholomew. Bartholomew was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus. He is credited as bringing Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century.
BATTISTELLA ItalianFrom St. John the Baptist, the first bearers of this name were devoted to this saint. Another etymology would be a patronymic from the given name
BATTISTA, anyway linked to the aforementioned saint.
BAVARO ItalianEthnic name from
bavaro "Bavarian" someone from Bavaria, now part of Germany, but formerly an independent kingdom.
BEFFA ItalianNickname for a practical joker, from Italian
beffa "trick, prank".
BELFIORE ItalianMeans "beautiful (as a) flower", derived from Italian
bel "beautiful" combined with Italian
fiore "flower". Two Italian sources claim that this surname was derived from the medieval masculine given name
Belfiore (which has of course the same meaning), but I can find no evidence that this was an actual given name in medieval Italy... [
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BELLARIA ItalianFrom the place name Bellaria, in Milan, Veneto, Piedmont and Sicily, these homonyms widespread throughout Italy.
BELMONDO ItalianName of Italian origin meaning "beautiful world". Famous bearers of the name are the French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933-) and the Italian cross-country skier, twice Olympic champion and four times World champion Stefania Belmondo (1969-).
BENANTI ItalianFrom a derivative of Bene, a short form of the various omen names formed with this element (from Latin bene ‘well’), such as Benedetto, Benvenuto, etc.
BENELLI ItalianThe distinguished surname Benelli originated in an area of Italy, known as the Papal States. Although people were originally known only by a single name, it became necessary for people to adapt a second name to identify themselves as populations grew and travel became more frequent... [
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BERGAMIN ItalianTraced to 1437, Bergamo. A 'bergamini' was known as a person famrmed and sold milk cows
BERGOGLIO ItalianFrom the name of a village in Piedmont, Italy. A notable bearer is
Jorge Mario Bergoglio (1936-), better known as Pope Francis, the current head of the Catholic Church.
BERNASCONI ItalianThe surname of BERNASCONI is of Italian origin, a locational name meaning the dweller on or near a small hill. The names of habitation are derived from pre-existing names denoting towns, villages, farmsteads or other named habitations... [
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BERNINI ItalianBernini was the surname of famous sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680).
BERRETTA ItalianFrom
berretta, originally meaning ‘hooded cloak’ (Latin
birrus), later ‘headdress’, ‘bonnet’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of such headgear or a nickname for an habitual wearer.
BERTAGNI ItalianBertagni has a lineage in Genoa and one in Lucca. Possibly derives from Gothic, Lombard and Germanic names containing the root germanica bertha (bright) or the celtic bert (bearer).
BEVILACQUA ItalianFrom Italian
bevi l'acqua "drinks water", a nickname likely applied ironically to an alcoholic.
BINETTI ItalianComes from a diminutive of Bino. Italianized form of French
'Binet'. Habitational name from a place called Binetto (named with Latin vinetum ‘vineyard’) in Bari province.
BINI ItalianComes from the given name
ALBINO and other names ending with
-bino ending.
BIRINDELLI ItalianIt is a regional surname of Tuscany common in provinces like Pisa, Lucca or Livorno.... [
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BISTOLFO ItalianBistolfi has a lineage between Alessandria Casale Monferrato, Acqui Terme and Prasco, Genoa and Savona. Bistolfo may derive from a modified form of the medieval name Guisulfus. In an act of 1327 Gui-sulfus Cottalorda (Mayor of Breil) signed an important peace agreement with Tenda, probably passing by the name Wisulfus, and therefore by common substitution of W with B.
BOCCHINO ItalianThe Italian family name is classified as being of nickname origin. The most obvious are those names which are based on a physical characteristic or personal attribute of the initial bearer. In this particular instance, according to the author Emedio De Felice, the family name Bocchino derives from "bocca", meaning "mouth", in turn derived from the Latin word "bucca".De Felice states that this family name may not only have arisen from a nickname which described the mouth in a literal sense, since "bocca" in a figurative sense designated such things such things as intelligence and veracity.... [
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BOLLE ItalianMeans "bubbles" in Italian, derived from the singular
bolla.... [
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BONACCI Italian"Bona" comes from the Italian for good, "Buona" and "cci" is ancient Latin form for "man." Thus, "the good man." A derivation of FiBonacci, or "son of Bonacci." Was the name of the famous mathematician, Leondardo de Pisa: Leonardo of Pisa is now known as Fibonacci
pronounced fib-on-arch-ee short for filius Bonacci... [
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BONANNO ItalianFrom the medieval personal name
BONANNO, an omen name meaning "good year". Mainly found throughout southern Italy.
BONATTI ItalianComes from the pesonal name '
Bona' which is derived from Latin '
bonus', which means
'great'.
BONGIORNO ItalianItalian from the medieval personal name
Bongiorno (composed of
bono ‘good’ +
giorno ‘day’), bestowed on a child as an expression of the parents’ satisfaction at the birth (‘it was a good day when you were born’).
BONGIOVANNI ItalianComes from the personal name
GIOVANNI composed of the elements
bon ‘good’ +
Giovanni, Italian equivalent of John
BORGO ItalianBorgo is an Italian surname, which means 'village' or 'borough'.
BORRELLI ItalianThere are three possible origins of this surname. It could derive from some place names located in Catania and Campania -two Italian southern regions. Another hypothesis is that it derives from the Celtic word
borro, meaning "proud" or maybe "ditch"... [
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BOSO ItalianFrom the medieval personal name Boso, from a Germanic personal name derived from a pejorative nickname meaning ‘leader’, ‘nobleman’, or ‘arrogant person’. Compare Dutch Boos.
BRANCACCIA Italian (Rare)Derived from the medieval Italian given name
Brancazia, which is the feminine form of the masculine given name
Brancazio. For more information, please see the entry for the patronymic surname
BRANCAZIO... [
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BRANCACCIO ItalianVariant form of
BRANCAZIO. There are a few sources that claim that the surname is derived from a place name (which would make it a locational surname), but that claim is incorrect, as all Italian geographical places carrying the name
Brancaccio were either established long after the Middle Ages (by which time virtually all Italians already had a hereditary surname) or were named after a person who had Brancaccio for a surname... [
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BRANCALEONE ItalianDerived from the medieval Italian masculine given name
Brancaleone, which means either "a lion's paw" or "he who captures the lion". In the case of the former meaning, the name is derived from Italian
branca meaning "paw, claw" combined with Italian
leone meaning "lion"... [
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BRANCATELLA Italian (Rare)Derived from the feminine given name
Brancatella, which is a diminutive of the medieval Italian given name
Brancazia, the feminine form of the masculine given name
Brancazio. For more information about this, please see the entry for the patronymic surname of
BRANCAZIO... [
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BRANCATELLO Italian (Rare)Derived from the masculine given name
Brancatello, which is a diminutive of the medieval Italian given name
Brancazio, itself ultimately derived from the late Latin given name
Brancatius... [
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BRANCATO ItalianThis surname can be derived from a given name (thus making it a patronymic surname) as well as from a place name (thus making it a locational surname). In the case of a patronymic surname, the surname is derived from the medieval Italian given name
Brancato, which is a variant form of the given name
Brancazio, itself ultimately derived from the late Latin given name
Brancatius... [
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BRANCAZIO Italian (Rare)Derived from the medieval Italian masculine given name
Brancazio, which itself is derived from
Brancatius (also found spelled as
Brancaccius and
Brancatus), a late Latin corruption of the given name
PANCRATIUS... [
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BRIATORE ItalianThis surname originates from the province of Cuneo in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is probably derived from Piedmontese
brijador meaning "postilion, coachman", which itself is ultimately derived from Piedmontese
bria meaning "bridles, reins".... [
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BULGARIA Italian, SpanishOriginally an ethnic name or regional name for someone from Bulgaria or a nickname for someone who had visited or traded with Bulgaria, which is named after the Turkic tribe of the Bulgars, itself possibly from a Turkic root meaning "mixed".
BUMBA Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Italian, Catalan, Occitan, Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Croatian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Swedish, Latvian, LithuanianVariant of
BOMBA.
BUONAMICO Italian (Anglicized)Di Martino Buffalmacco was a widely renouned painter in Italy cities in Florence, Bologna, Pisa although his work was not known to survived the Great Fire of Italy back in the late 1300 hundreds he was widlely known for asummed work as The Three Dead- Three Living, The Triump of Death, The Last Judgement, The Hell and the Thebasis.... [
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BUSCEMI Italian, SicilianSicilian surname of Arabic origin coming from the town
Buscemi in Syracuse province. The name possibly derives from Arab
'Abu Samah'.
BUSCHIAZZO ItalianIt's a surname in northern Italy (Piedmont). It emerges from the German spelling Bosch or Busch and this means "forest" or "wooded area".
BUTTA ItalianItalian: from a short form of a compound name formed with butta- ‘throw’, as for example Buttacavoli.Italian: from an old German feminine personal name Butta.Italian: variant of Botta.
CACCIATORE ItalianDerived from Italian
cacciatore meaning "hunter, huntsman", which is ultimately derived from the Italian verb
cacciare meaning "to hunt".... [
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CALCATERRA ItalianNickname from calcare meaning "to tread", "to stamp" + terra meaning "land", "earth", "ground", probably denoting a short person, someone who walked close to the ground, or an energetic walker.
CALDERONE ItalianFrom the Latin word
Caldaria "cauldron". Given to someone who worked as a tinker or tinsmith.
CALIGIURI ItalianComes from the Greek words "kalos" meaning "beautiful" and "gheros" meaning "elderly," and was often given to children in the hopes that they would retain their beauty in their old age.
CALLIARI Italian (Latinized, Archaic)This is an Italian surname, in the north of Italy. Calliari is the result of the deformation of the graphically
Calligari, where you can clearly see excision of the letter or character D, which is located in the middle of the surname... [
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CAMBRIA ItalianDenoted to someone from Cambria, Sicily, possibly of Arabic origin.
CANELLA ItalianItalian regional surname denoting someone who lived by a canal. From the Italian
canale 'canal', from the Latin
canalis meaning "canal; conduit; groove; funnel; or ditch". Alternatively, it may come the genus name of wild cinnamon, a diminutive of the Latin
canna "reed, cane".
CANNELLA ItalianDerived from the word "Cinnamon" in Italian meaning someone who was a baker and or made cinnamon.
CAPONE ItalianIs a Italian origin surname from an augmentative of capo ‘head’, applied as a nickname for someone with a big head, probably in the sense ‘arrogant’ or ‘stubborn’ rather than in a strictly literal sense... [
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CAPOTE Italian (Tuscan)Capote is a name for person who was the chief of the head from the Italian personal name Capo.
CAPRA ItalianFrom the Latin word
capra meaning "nanny goat." This was a name originally borne by shepherds / goat herders.
CAPRARI ItalianFrom Latin
caprarius, meaning "goats grower", ultimately derived from
capra, meaning "goat".
CAPUA ItalianCapua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km (16 mi) north of Naples on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now.... [
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CAPUTO ItalianFrom Latin
caput ("head"), which was a nickname given to big-headed or stubborn people.
CARDILLO ItalianCardillo is a surname of Sicilian origin, derived from the word
cardilla, meaning ''goldfinch''.
CARDUCCI ItalianFrom
Riccarduccio, an affectionate form of the given name
RICCARDO. A famous bearer of this surname is Italian poet Giosuè Carducci (1835-1907), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1906.