All right, I need some Southern Italian surnames or perhaps some cool sounding Italian ones (All regions: North, Central, South, and Sicily). I know my surname, LoPresti is a Southern Italian one, but I need more than that. Any help?

According to ItalianNames.com ...



PS - Welcome aboard!

Interesting you say one of the most common names is Antonio Russo. I grew up in a neighborhood of Russo families and the most common name was Anthony (usually called Tony) Russo. The second most common would have been Frank (Francesco?) Russo.

I now my parents know some DeLucas and Lombardo' (not "i"). Back in Michigan anyway, Russo is very very common. Russo's is the Italian Market there and another family of Russo's own a restaurant by the same name and if I'm not mistaken (years ago anyway) my dad's barber was a Russo. I went catholic to school with two Johnny Russos. Don't know any Rossi's though, that I can think of.


TIS

DeGiosio
Indovina
Colazzi
Chicaria
Fantozi
Scassera
Costelli
Iacuzzi
Tropiana

Familiar in my neck of the woods: There's many more, but this is off the top of my head:


Pellegrino
Impellizerri
Ruggirello
Ancona
Riccobono
Savalli
Catalano
Scaturro
Calvaruso
Noto

TIS

My aunt married an Italian with the last name Lopreito.

You know, when you're raised around Italians and/or live in or around an Italian area you think you maybe every name will ring a bell. As many Italian surnames as I think I know, seeing the lists here makes me realize there are tons that I haven't heard of. Very interesting.


TIS

Btw, a year or longer ago I posted a map with the popularity of all the surnames in Italy/Sicily. You'd be surprised at how popular some names are there (aside from Geoff's list). I put in my maiden name and married name and the map seemd to fill up (mostly in the Sicily area). I'll try to find it again if anyone is interested.

My family name is NonItaliano.

So, taking your name definition on the surface, you're non-Italian? Sort of contradicts itself no?

Really though, nice name!!!



TIS

My grandfather's last name was "BroGato" (BROE-GAH-TOE) from Palermo, Sicily. However, there are dozens of "BroCato's" in the Palermo phone directory but no "Brogato's". I think my great gandfather was the victim of The Ellis Island rename/misspelling game? Of course my gandmother's name was Rossi/Russo and her mother's name was Esposito.

My grandmothers' maiden names are not very common. In fact, you've probably never see them before.

Pagarelli

Stigliano

Wow, PB - You're right...I've never heard of those names before. I bet it makes it easier to find paisan? When I was younger, I was told that the surname "Esposito" was a common name given to children abandoned or orphaned - especially in the Naples area. My great grandmother was an Esposito from Naples. I like to tell my kids the story of Raffeale Esposito - the pizza maker from Napoli who made Queen Margherita the now famous "Pizza Margherita" with basil, tomato and moozadell. "Great Uncle Ralphie"!

When my grandfather came to this country from Compobosso he changed the spelling of his last name. He changed the the beginning and ending "I" to "Y". A few decades ago I changed it back and I pronounce the leading "I" as a long I. Noone in my family (including my kids) has followed suit. Still, there are so many people who mispronounce it that I've thought of changing my name to Smith.

I was just pointing out that Italian names aren't the pinnacle of all names. They are just names. Nothing big and mafiaesque or connected about them.

My fav Italian surname would have to be Gambino..

I remember you telling me that you shook his hand when he became boss in 1957.

Welcome back

My BB name "MaryCas" is from my in-laws - Casarella.

Other family names on that side are:

Calia
Pasqualicchio
Palantonio (related to the sportscaster, Sal)

A popular name in Northeast PA is Dente.

For any newbies here, don't be fooled by "MaryCas", I'm not a woman. I'm actually a male Kraut-Mick-Polock.

Boyardee?

My Mums last name is "Zanta". I always found that to be a weird name....

As you know, MaryCas, I'm from that area originally, and knew some Pasqualicchio families in Dunmore, which has been a little more Italian than Irish although now everybody's mixed. Was your wife's family related to those?

In Dunmore the popular Italian names were/are Mecca, Summa, Rinaldi and Verrastro. There were a lot of Valvanos too. Two of my best friends were named Bocchicchio (we called him Keeker) and Scombordi, whom we affectionately called "Scumbag."

Christmas must be great!

Hahaha Exactly.

The Pasqualicchios were from Belleville and Montclair, NJ, but I'll ask my mother-in-law (MaryCas) if there were any in Dunmore (where the Casarella's lived). Actually my wife's grandmother was a Murphy from Dunmore, hey, maybe you are related with that Irish blood?!

Small world! My late maternal grandfather is a Murphy from Dunmore even though he was born in neighboring South Scranton. We might be related.