Popular Italian Last Names

Did you know that Italian last names usually end with a vowel? Here are list of common Italian last names.

Although Shakespeare has popularly claimed What’s in a name?, the first as well as last names are important parts of a person’s identity. The tradition of using last names (also known as surname or family name) has been in practice since ages. Similar to first names, last names also have a meaning or are derived from a meaningful word. They may have been based on Patronymics, geographical factors, occupation, etc. What do the last names Da Vinci, Bellucci and Pacino, etc., have in common? Well, they are last names of famous people, or more specifically famous Italians.

Italian Last Names

The etymology of the Italian last names is very interesting. As mentioned above, the last names are either derived from places in Italy or from the occupation of the ancestors. Now take a look at some of these Italian last names. For e.g., Perugino means a native of the land of Perugia; Da Vinci has originated from the name of the town Vinci in Italy; Romano meaning those living in Rome. Secondly, last names were also derived from the occupation of a person. For e.g., Arcellone and Arcelloni means craftsmen who dealt in bow making; and Ballarino means dancers.

However, some of the common Italian last names also have the word ‘di’ in between; as in Di Caprio. Well the story of these last names goes back to the era where last names were not in practice. It was during the time when first names became so common that the names of the father was attached to the first name. For e.g., Leonardo, son of Berardo. This was later modified to Leonardo di Berardo. We find English equivalents of the same in the USA, as in Johnson. Secondly, some of the Italian last names have even derived from nicknames or pet names. For e.g., Rossi means the one with a specific hair color; or Bassi or even Basso means someone who is short.

There are also some cool Italian names which also have hilarious meanings. For e.g., the last name Bellagamba actually means a beautiful leg in Italian; and Quattrochi means four eyes. Interestingly, the last name of Botticelli was derived from the nickname of his elder brother Botticello which literally meant the little barrel. Now, let us take a look at the list of popular as well as common Italian last names.

List of Famous Italian Last Names

If you take a closer look at the last names mentioned above, you will find that most of the Italian last names end with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u). For e.g., Valentino, Lanza, Gerini, etc. Therefore, this simple theory usually makes it very easy to trace the origin of the last name to Italy. However, the pronunciation of the last names differ a lot and Italians usually pronounce the vowels at the end of the last names. For e.g., the popular Italian last name Corleone is pronounced as Core-lee-oh-nee. With this information, let us take a look at some more Italian last names.

• Abantantuono
• Bianchi
• Bruno
• Baggio
• Basilone
• Botticelli
• Bellucci
• Celentano
• Colombo
• Conti
• Ciricillo
• Compagnoni
• Cardano
• Costa
• Ciarlo
• Cavalli
• Corleone
• Capone
• Damato
• Da Vinci
• De Luca
• DeLuise
• Esposito
• Francis
• Fellini
• Fontana
• Fabian
• Ferrari
• Fubini
• Greco
• Galilei
• Gallo
• Giordano
• Lombardi
• Marciano
• Marino
• Medici
• Mancini
• Moretti
• Manfredi
• Napolitano
• Neri
• Pavarotti
• Pacino
• Quatro
• Rossi
• Russo
• Romano
• Rossetti
• Rossi
• Ricci
• Rizzo
• Ramazzotti
• Rea
• Sinatra
• Testa
• Totti
• Vivaldi
• Versace
• Verdi
• Verdone
• Zucchero

There are many more, but, it is not possible to mention the complete list here. The next time you come across a last name, you will definitely recognize its origin. Addio!