AdornoSicilian Means "honey buzzard" in the Calabrian dialect, a nickname given to someone with a hawklike appearance, or an occupational name for a falconer.
AgassiItalian Derived from the given name Agazio, an Italian form of Latin Agathius, ultimately derived from the Greek element ἀγαθός (agathos) meaning "good".
AgirmoItalian (Rare) Possibly derived from the Italian form of Ancient Greek ἀγυρμός (agyrmos) meaning "gathering, meeting, assembly", referring to the first day of the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries festivals.
AmanteItalian, Spanish, Portuguese The name "Amante" means "lover" or "beloved". It can also be used as a nickname for someone who is a lover or enthusiast.
AmanziItalian Possibly from amate "to love". Alternately, may be from the dialectical word manzu "tame, gentle, docile", or from the given name Mantius.
AmecheItalian (Anglicized) Americanised form of Amici. A famous bearer was American actor, comedian and vaudevillian Don Ameche (1908-1993). After portraying the title character in the movie The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939), his surname led Americans to use the word ameche as a juvenile slang for a telephone.
AneddaItalian Possibly from Sardinian anedda "ring", referring to a walled ring in which animals were tied. May alternately be a diminutive form of the given name Ana.
AngeloItalian From a popular medieval personal name, Angelo, Latin Angelus, from Greek angelos "messenger, angel" (considered as a messenger sent from God).
AngiusItalian Meaning uncertain, possibly linked to Sardinian angioni "lamb", Ancient Greek άγγος (àngos) "vessel, jug" or άγχω (ankho) "to strangle; anguish, stress", or from a modification of Latin balneum (see Bagni) "bath", indicating a place with hot springs.
AngottItalian (Anglicized) The origin of this surname is unknown but is most likely an anglicized version of the Italian surname 'Angotti'.... [more]
ApolloItalian, Spanish From 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".
AquilaItalian Habitational name from L'Aquila in Abruzzo or from any of various smaller places called Aquila.
AràbiaItalian, Spanish Ethnic 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.
AraldiItalian Means “heralds” in Italian. Famous bearers include Italian painters Alessandro Araldi (c. 1460 – c. 1529) and Paolo Araldi (18th century – after 1820).
ArceriItalian From Italian arciere "archer, bowman". May alternately be from a place name, such as Arcera.
AstoniItalian It is the surname of the Home and Away family, The Astoni family, consisting of 4 members, Ben, Maggie, Coco and Ziggy.
AstoreItalian Derived from Italian astore meaning "goshawk", an occupational name for a falconer, or a nickname for a person who had aquiline features or who was cunning by nature.
BaresiItalian Variant of Barrese. A famous bearer is Franchino "Franco" Baresi (1960-), as well as his brother Giuseppe Baresi (1958-), both former Italian soccer players.
BarileItalian From Italian barile "barrel" either an occupational name for a Cooper or a nickname for a fat man.
BoneraItalian Derived from the medieval Italian given name Bonora or Buonora meaning "good hour" or "finally", often given to children whose birth was long-awaited or celebrated, or who were born early in the morning... [more]
BonicaItalian Possibly derived from a feminine personal name derived from Latin bonus "good".
BraccoItalian Either a nickname derived from Calabrian braccu meaning "small, chubby", or probably for someone thought to resemble a hunting dog, from Italian bracco literally meaning "hunting dog, bloodhound"... [more]
BurgioItalian Denoting someone from a town of the same name, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "high, lofty", possibly by way of Arabic بُرْج (burj) "tower", German burg "castle, fortification; settlement", French bourg "burg, market town", or Latin burgus "watchtower, fortified town".
ButeraItalian Means “vineyard” or “grapevine” in Italian.
CapitaItalian Possibly derived from Sardinian cabitta meaning "little head" or "headboard (of a bed)", or perhaps from a contraction of cabiddáda "large quantity", indicating wealth. It could also derive from a descendant of Latin capitis "head".
CaponeItalian Augmentative of Italian capo meaning "head", used as a nickname for a big-headed or arrogant person.
CapoteItalian (Tuscan) Capote is a name for person who was the chief of the head from the Italian personal name Capo.
CaprioItalian from Latin caprae ‘goats’ or possibly from Greek kapros "(wild) boar" and so a metonymic occupational name for a goatherd or swineherd or a nickname for someone thought to resemble a goat or boar.
CaputoItalian Derived from Latin caput meaning "head", used as a nickname for a big-headed or stubborn person.
CarafaItalian It could derive from toponyms such as Caraffa del Bianco in the province of Reggio Calabria or Caraffa in the province of Catanzaro.... [more]
CeriseFrench, Italian Italian habitational name from La Cerise or Torrent-La Cerise placenames in Valle d'Aosta from French cerise "cherry"; and French occupational name from cerise "cherry" (from Latin cerasus) applied as a metonymic occupational name for someone who grew or sold cherries.
ChiesaItalian Means "church" in Italian, originally a topographic name for someone who lived near a church, a habitational name from any of various places named Chiesa or perhaps an occupational name for someone who worked in a church.
ChiodiItalian From Italian chiodo "nail", probably given to someone who made or sold nails.
CianciItalian The surname Cianci is a name for a person of small financial means. The surname Cianfari is derived from the Italian words cianfrone and cianferone, which referred to a type of medieval coin.
CiccioSicilian Ciccio usually implies the person with given name is as sweet as pie. It also can be lengthened to Francesco.
CiceroItalian From Sicilian cìciru "chickpea", an occupational name for someone who grew or sold chickpeas, or perhaps a nickname for someone with notable pimples or skin sores.
CiechiItalian Means "blind (people)" in Italian, from Latin caecus "devoid of light, blind; invisible; aimless".
CiminoItalian Possibly derived from Italian cimino or Sicilian ciminu "cumin" as a metonymic occupational name for a spice merchant. Alternatively, it could be a diminutive of a shortened form of names such as Decimius or Ecimius.
CiuffiItalian Probably from Italian ciuffo "tuft (of hair)".
CocciaItalian Meaning uncertain, possibly from Sicilian cocciu "grain, berry", denoting a kind of gruel; an occupational name for a farmer from Greek κόκκος (kokkos) "grain, seed"; or from Italian coccia "head, shell", referring to someone with a large head, or who was stubborn.
CodinoItalian Means "pigtail, plait" in Italian, literally "tail's end". Ultimately from Latin cauda "tail (of an animal)". Perhaps given to someone who often wore their hair in such a style, possibly given to orphans or foundlings.
ColoneItalian From an augmentative form meaning “big Nicolas” of the personal name Cola.
ColosiItalian Patronymic or plural form of a pet form of the personal name Nicoloso.
ComitoItalian From the medieval Latin comitus, meaning "count", or the medieval Greek form of this word, komitos, used as a nickname for someone who put on airs and graces or worked for a count.
CotoniItalian (Rare, ?) Uncertain etymology, possibly derived from Italian cotone meaning "cotton".
CrascìSicilian From Sicilian craxi, an obsolete word meaning "wine", ultimately from Ancient Greek κρᾶσις (krasis) "mixture, blending".
CrestaItalian, Romansh Derived from Italian and Romansh cresta "crest" (ultimately from Latin crista). This name was perhaps applied as a topographic name for someone who lived by the crest of a mountain or as a nickname with reference to the comb of a rooster.
CuginoItalian Means "cousin" in Italian, with the archaic meaning "relative, kinsman". It may have been a nickname for a prominent or well-connected individual, or for someone who often used the term as a form of address to others.
CurcioItalian Could be derived from the Ancient Roman gens Curtius, or directly from a regional descendant of Latin curtus meaning "shortened, short" or "mutilated, broken, incomplete"... [more]
DamianFrench, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Slovak, Polish From the medieval personal name Damian, Greek Damianos (from damazein "to subdue"). St. Damian was an early Christian saint martyred in Cilicia in ad 303 under the emperor Domitian, together with his brother Cosmas... [more]
D'AmicoItalian Derived from Italian amico meaning "friend".
DaneseItalian Ethnic name for a Dane, or from the personal name Danese, which was introduced to and popularized in medieval Italy through French Carolingian literature, notably the epics Chanson de Roland and Ogier de Denemarche.
Di ColaItalian The surname Di Cola originates from the diminutive of the male name Nicola, widespread especially in the city of Bari, devoted to its patron saint.
DifanoItalian Rare Italian surname that comes from the city of Isola di Fano, Presaro e Urbino, Italy.
DivitaItalian Derives from the word vita meaning "life".
DonatoItalian From the medieval personal name Donato (Latin Donatus, past participle of donare, frequentative of dare "to give"). It was the name of a 4th-century Italian bishop martyred in c. 350 under Julian the Apostate, as well as various other early saints, and a 4th-century grammarian and commentator on Virgil, widely respected in the Middle Ages as a figure of great learning.
FantinItalian, Venetian, Emilian-Romagnol Likely Derived from a northern, Emilian-Romagnol variant of fantino, meaning 'baby, boy', ‘foot soldier’, or 'young (unmarried) man'.
FaranoItalian, Sicilian Possibly deriving from a town Faranò in province of Messina, Sicily. Possible variant of Surname faran which comes from Irish surnames Ó Fearáin, Ó Faracháin, or Ó Forannáin.
FasanoItalian Probably from Italian fasani "pheasant", a nickname for someone who resembled the bird in appearance or (lack of) intelligence, who hunted them, or who lived in an area populated by them. ... [more]
FaticaItalian From Italian fatica "hard work, effort, labour; fatigue".
FilosaItalian Southern Italian: Probably an occupational nickname for a fisherman, from Sicilian filuòsa ‘fishing net’. Also from the subphylum: Filosa. These are known as euglyphids, filose (which means stringy or thread-like), amoebae with shells of siliceous scales or plates, which are commonly found in soils, nutrient-rich waters, and on aquatic plants.
FischiItalian Rare central Italian surname. Means “whistler” in Italian.
FlorisItalian Cognate to Flores, or a toponym from Sardinian floris "flowers". Possibly from the Latin cognomen Florens meaning "prosperous, flourishing".
FoschiItalian From Italian fosco "dark, murky (colour); gloomy", a nickname referring to the bearer's hair colour or mood. May also stem from the given name Fuscus, of the same meaning.
FresiaItalian (Modern, Rare) The surname is the 202,062nd most commonly held family name internationally It is held by around 1 in 3,535,927 people. This last name is mostly found in Europe, where 71 percent of Fresia reside; 59 percent reside in Southwestern Europe and 59 percent reside in Italic Europe... [more]
GemitoItalian From a misspelling of genito "to be born", given to sculptor Vincenzo Gemito upon being abandoned at an orphanage as an infant.
GenovaItalian habitational name from Genoa (Italian Genova) in Liguria which during the Middle Ages was one of the great seaports of the Mediterranean and a flourishing mercantile and financial center... [more]
GerosaItalian Denoted someone from the town of Gerosa in Lombardy, or perhaps a nickname from geros (modern ghiaioso) "gravelly".
GhezziItalian Patronymic or plural form of a nickname from Old Italian ghezzo ‘dark’
GiglioItalian From the personal name Giglio, from giglio "lily" (from Latin lilium), a plant considered to symbolize the qualities of candor and purity.
GogliaItalian Nickname or a metonymic occupational name for a person who used leaves from a kind of plant to bind grafts, derived from the Italian dialectal goglia.
GriffoItalian From grifo "gryphon" (Latin gryphus, Greek gryps, of Assyrian origin), hence a nickname for someone thought to resemble the mythical beast.
GuastiItalian Meaning uncertain, may denote someone from the town of Guasto. Alternately, it may be an occupational name from gastaldo "chamberlain", from Latin gastaldus "manager, bailiff, steward", or be a nickname from guasto "broken, crippled".
IlardiItalian Possibly from the given name Ilardo, which could be a derivative of the Germanic name Adalhard, or perhaps a southern variant of Gilardi.
IovineItalian Possibly derived from the Roman cognomen Iuvenalis "youthful, young", or directly from a variant of Italian giovine "youthful, young"... [more]
LanciaItalian From Latin lancea, meaning "spear", given to those who made, sold or used spears. A famous bearer of this surname is Vincenzo Lancia (1881-1937), who established the Lancia car brand in 1906.