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Most Common Surnames in Italy By Region

August 3, 2017 8 Comments

Map found via reddit, originally from Italianismo

The map above shows which surnames (last names) are most popular in each Italian region. Although, even these surnames only account for around 1% of all Italian surnames due to the huge diversity that exists.

Reddit user medhelan also points out a few other interesting things:

  • The Rossi/Russo North/South divide with both surnames meaning “red”
  • The variations of Ferrero/Ferrari/Fabbri/Fabris/Favre in the North all meaning “smith”
  • The almost total absence of surnames ending in -i in the South while they’re extremely common in the North and in the Centre
  • -n ending surnames in Veneto and Friuli due to the elimination of the final -i
  • Austro-Bavarian surnames in Trentino-Sudtyrol and Arpitan surnames in Val d’Aosta
  • The difference between Sardinia and the rest of the country

You can learn more about Italian genealogy and surnames from the following books:

  • Our Italian Surnames
  • The Family Tree Italian Genealogy Guide: How to Trace Your Family Tree in Italy
  • Italian Genealogical Records: How to Use Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical & Other Records in Family History Research (Italian Edition)

Find this map interesting? Please help us by sharing it:

Filed Under: Europe Tagged With: Italy

Comments

  1. Tomasz Pluskiewicz says

    August 6, 2017 at 6:57 pm

    +1 if read those labels with Italian-esque accent 😀

    Reply
  2. toropazzoide says

    November 7, 2017 at 1:17 pm

    I’d like to point that “Russo” by itself means “russian”, not “red”. Or, as verb, it could mean “russare” (“Io russo” = “I snore”). I don’t doubt that it comes from a modified “rosso”, but in modern italian that’s not what it means.
    (source: I’m italian)

    Reply
    • rich l russo says

      July 18, 2021 at 6:13 pm

      You are absolutely right.
      The name Russo, meant a Norman, which in French and Italian means a Norseman. In the region of Sicily and Southern Italy, which was called Magna Graecia the language spoken there was Byzantine Greek, seconded by Arabic and not Latin and when the Normans landed in Sicily they were all known as Rus, from Scandinavian meaning He Rows, or the Men Who Row. The Varangian Rus were body guards to the Byzantine Emperors. Russo is a latinization of Rus meaning a member of the Rus, a Viking. We find it in Southern Italy because Central and Northern Italy didn’t have a Norman Conquest. It meant a Norman long before it came to mean a Russian.

      Reply
  3. Elamo Petalino says

    February 3, 2020 at 1:06 am

    Petalino , is my last name. What does it mean?

    Reply
    • Danielle says

      October 5, 2020 at 6:51 pm

      Mine is Pettalino but I have family who spell is Petalino and we originate from Napels

      Reply
  4. Debbi says

    August 19, 2020 at 8:27 pm

    Where can you buy these maps?

    Reply
  5. Toni Rispoli says

    July 30, 2021 at 12:17 am

    My name is Rispoli. What does it mean and where did it originate?

    Reply
  6. Maurizio Morabito says

    September 15, 2021 at 10:07 pm

    this map is wrong. There is no Italian surname “Italianismo” in Apulia, and the typical surnames in Lunigiana are all incorrect. And this is for two areas that I know very well.

    Reply

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