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Appendix:Italian surnames

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From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Main category: Italian surnames

Italian surnames are derived from nicknames, physical traits, places, the name of the head of the house and occupations. Most names in their original form have a certain meaning behind them.

The top 20

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According to the site Italianames [1], the following are the most common surnames in Italy:

  1. Rossi
  2. Russo
  3. Ferrari
  4. Esposito
  5. Bianchi
  6. Romano
  7. Colombo
  8. Ricci
  9. Marino
  10. Greco
  11. Bruno
  12. Gallo
  13. Conti
  14. De Luca
  15. Mancini
  16. Costa
  17. Giordano
  18. Rizzo
  19. Lombardi
  20. Moretti

Geographical origins

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According to some Italian Americans who came to Ellis Island, their last names were changed to the town they came from if their original names were difficult to pronounce. However, many consider this to be a myth, saying that no names were ever changed.

Truth is, while other Italian surnames were changed with translation and dialect, the ones originating from a place have a varying history behind them. For some, their last name in Italy was the same as when they arrived. For others, they came from a region where they didn't have last names commonly given, and so they took up the name of where they were from.

The following are some surnames which have originated from a name of a city, region, geographical feature, etc.:

List of surnames

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See also Category:Italian surnames

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

I

J

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

Z

Further reading

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