PagliaroItalian Derived from Italian paglia "straw" or pagliaro "haystack, straw-rick", an occupational name for someone who gathered or used straw, or a topographic name for someone who lived near a barn or straw-loft.
PalermoItalian From the name of the capital city in Sicily.
PalladioItalian Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. He designed churches and palaces, but he was best known for his country houses and villas. The architectural treatise, The Four Books of Architecture, summarizes his teachings... [more]
PallaviciniItalian Near the pales; and they carry a palisade in their Arms.
PalmaSpanish, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Italian Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, and southern Italian: habitational name from any of various places named or named with Palma, from Latin palma ‘palm’. ... [more]
PalmeroItalian The Palmero family lived in the territory of Palma, which is in Campania, in the province of Naples. The surname Palma was also a patronymic surname, derived from the personal name Palma, which was common in medieval times... [more]
PalmieriItalian Derived from Italian palmiere meaning "pilgrim".
PampinellaItalian Uncertain etymology. Possibly derived from Italian pampino "vine leaf" and the diminutive suffix -ella, or perhaps related to pimpinella "pimpernel (plant)" (genus Lysimachia), which derives from Latin bipennella via Catalan pampinella
PampoItalian 1 Italian: from a short form of Alampo, from the Greek personal name Eulampios, adjectival derivative of eulampēs ‘most splendid’.... [more]
PanareseItalian habitational name for someone from a place called Panaro (from Latin panarium "bread basket") for example in Siracusa province Sicily or from Panareo in Salento from an adjectival form of the place names.
PanaroItalian From old Italian panaro meaning "bread basket" or "wooden basket, hamper", an occupational name for a baker, or perhaps a basket maker. Alternatively, could be a habitational name from the Panaro river.
PancieraItalian from panciera denoting the piece of the armor covering the stomach (from pancia "belly paunch") perhaps used for an armorer or for someone with a large paunch.
PancioneItalian Means "fat person, paunch, big belly" in Italian.
PaneItalian, Corsican Means "bread" in Italian, a metonymic occupational name for a baker, or a a nickname or given name (medieval Panis, Panellus) figuratively meaning "good as bread, good thing".
PanebiancoItalian Means "white bread", from Italian pane "bread" and bianco "white", an occupational name for a baker who worked with high quality breads, or in some cases perhaps a nickname for someone of good character.
PanellaItalian From the name of a kind of fritter or pancake made with chickpea powder. Could be an occupational name for a baker, or perhaps a nickname for someone with a yellowish complexion. Alternatively, can be a diminutive form of Pane.
PanepintoItalian Derived from the word "pane" meaning "bread" in Italian and "pinto" meaning "painted", "flecked", or possibly "bad". The name is generally given to a baker.
PanettaItalian Diminutive form of Italian pane "bread", probably an occupational name for a baker.
PanichiItalian Probably from panico, a type of millet grown in Italy. Alternately, it could be from the Latin name Panicus "of Pan, panic".
PanozzoItalian Venice, one of the oldest and most beautiful regions of Italy, is the esteemed birthplace of numerous prominent families, and of a family that bears the surname Panozzo. Although people were originally known only by a single name, it became necessary for them to adopt a second name to identify themselves, as populations grew and travel became more frequent... [more]
PanzeriItalian Either a nickname from Italian pancia "belly, paunch", referring to someone with a prominent belly (see Panza), or an occupational name for someone who manufactured girdles and armour, from panciere "corset, girdle; paunce (armour covering the belly)", ultimately from the same root.
PanzicaItalian From Sicilian panzicu "pot-bellied, paunch".
PappalardoItalian Means "glutton, hypocrite" in Italian, originally a nickname for a gluttonous person or someone who pretended to observe religious fasts while eating meat in secret.
ParadisoItalian from paradiso "Paradise" applied as a topographic name for someone living in a verdant place where flowers grew in abundance or near a pleasure garden or from the same word used as a personal name recorded in the form Paradisus in Lazio in 108
ParatoreItalian Derived from Italian paratore meaning "decorator, fuller", which refers to a craftsman who fulls coarse cloth. In other words: this surname is the Italian cognate of the English surname Fuller... [more]
ParlettiItalian (Rare) It is a surname of Italian origin, believed to mean "talkative", although few have this surname. Approximately 11 people bear this surname.
PassafiumeItalian From Italian passa fiume meaning "(one who) crosses the river", an occupational name for a ferryman.
PassiItalian, Medieval Italian The surname Passi was first found in the town of Mugello, with the Passerini family who moved south to Florence in the 10th century. Terranova dei Passerini is a comune in the Province of Lodi in the Italian region Lombardy about 50 kilometres (31 miles) southeast of Milan.... [more]
PaternoItalian From any of several locations called Paterno or Paterna in Italy, which can derive from Latin patere "open", or from the Roman cognomen Paternus "paternal, fatherly".
PaternòItalian From the name of a municipality in Catania, Sicily, of uncertain etymology. It could derive from latinized Ancient Greek Paetram Aitnaion meaning "fortress of the Etnaeans", from Latin-Byzantine paternum praedium (or Paternòn) meaning "landed property inherited from the father", or perhaps from Latin Praeter Aetna "in front of Mount Etna".
PattaItalian Possibly from patta "draw, settlement", perhaps a nickname given to a negotiator. The same term can also mean "heat, warmth of the hearth".
PauselliItalian Etymology uncertain. Possibly a nickname derived from Italian pausa "stop, pause, rest" combined with a diminutive suffix.
PaveseItalian Means "one from Pavia". Pavia is an Italian town located in Lombardy, northern Italy. It can also derive from pavese, a kind of big, Medieval shield.... [more]
PellicanoItalian, Sicilian nickname from dialect pelecanòpelicanò "woodpecker" from modern Greek pelekanos "green woodpecker" (cognate with pelekan "pelican"; both come from pelekys "axe" the pelican because its beak is shaped like an axe the woodpecker because it uses its beak like an axe).
PernaItalian Meaning uncertain, possibly from the dialectic word perna "leg", denoting someone with a deformed or missing leg, or a variant of Perla.
PernierItalian A famous bearer is the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier (1874 - 1937), who discovered the mysterious Phaistos disc on the Greek island of Crete.
PersiaItalian, Spanish Ethnic name or regional name for someone from Persia (modern-day Iran) or some other country with Persian-speaking peoples or a nickname for someone who had visited or traded with one of these countries (see the given name Persis)... [more]
PezzimentiItalian From pezzimento "military baggage", a word from a Greek dialect in southern Italy. Probably an occupational name for a soldier, or someone who worked in the military in some way.
PianaItalian Topographic name from piana ‘plain’, ‘level ground’, from Latin planus, or a habitational name from any of the places named with this word.
PianoItalian Topographic name for someone who lived on a plain or plateau, Italian piano (Latin planum, from the adjective planus ‘flat’, ‘level’).
PicaItalian, Catalan Nickname for a gossipy or garrulous person, from the central-southern Italian word pica ‘magpie’. Compare Picazo.Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places called Pica.Catalan: from either pica ‘pointed object’ (weapon, etc.) or a derivative of picar ‘to prick’.
PietrafesaItalian From the former name of a town in Potenza, Italy (changed to Satriano di Lucania in 1887), an Italianized form of Medieval Latin Petrafixa, composed of petra "rock, stone" and fixa "fixed, fastened, immovable; constant"... [more]
PininfarinaItalian A combination of "pinin", Piedmontese for youngest/smallest brother, and Farina, the Italian variant of Miller. This is the name of the Italian coachbuilder, founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina, later Battista Pininfarina.
PinoSpanish, Galician, Italian Spanish and Galician habitational name from any of the places in Galicia (Spain) named Pino from pino "pine" or a topographic name for someone who lived by a remarkable pine tree. Italian habitational name from Pino d'Asti in Asti province Pino Torinese in Torino or Pino Solitario in Taranto all named with pino "pine’... [more]
PiovascoItalian, Literature Means "shower, brief fall of rain" in Italian, from Italian piovere or piova, both meaning "rain" with an added suffix. Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò is the protagonist in the Italian novel The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino, who inherited this surname from his father, Arminio Piovasco.
PipoloItalian Possibly derived from a Latin word meaning "nothing, insignificant; a thing without value", perhaps a nickname for an unimportant or disliked person. Alternatively, it could be from a pet form of the given name Pippo, a diminutive of Filippo.
PisaItalian Habitational name from the city of Pisa in Tuscany. The city was probably founded by Greek colonists, but before coming under Roman control it was in the hands of the Etruscans, who probably gave it its name... [more]
PiscopoItalian, Neapolitan Means "bishop" in Neapolitan, ultimately derived from Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος (episkopos) "overseer, supervisor, bishop" or "watcher, guardian"... [more]
PisoniItalian patronymic "from Pisone", from a derivative of Piso, from Latin pisum "pea"
PlatiniItalian Occupational name for a person who coats objects with platinum, derived from Italian platinare literally meaning "to platinize, to coat with platinum". A notable bearer is the former French soccer star Michel Platini (1955-).
PoItalian Derived from Po the longest river in Italy (651,8 km). It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps across the regions: Piemonte, Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto... [more]
PolidoriItalian Means "son of Polidoro". Famous bearers include John William Polidori (1795-1821), a physician to Lord Byron and author of 'The Vampyre' (1819), and his sister Frances Polidori (1800-1886), the mother of painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet Christina Rossetti, critic William Michael Rossetti, and author Maria Francesca Rossetti.
PompiliiItalian, Medieval Latin The surname Pompilii is of Italian origin and is likely derived from the Latin name Pompilius, which is historically linked to NumaPompilius, the legendary second king of Rome known for his wisdom and religious reforms... [more]
PorcelliItalian From Italian porcello, meaning "piglet". Used to denote someone who worked as a swineherd, or perhaps a nickname for someone who resembled a piglet in some way.
PorchiaItalian Means "young sow, female piglet", a metonymic name for a swineherd.
PortanovaItalian, Portuguese, Galician Habitational name from a place or locality called Portanova "new gate" from the elements neos "new" and porta "door".
PorteraItalian Occupational name for a female servant, from Spanish portera.