Italian surnames are surnames formed in Italian or borrowed into Italian. The classification is as follows:

(1) according to descent

For example, from the first name Martino, Martini, Martinelli

(2) according to origin

For example, Napoli, De Napoli, Romano

(3) according to place of residence

For example, Bosco ‘forest’, Fontana ‘spring’

(4) according to an office or profession

For example, Giudice ‘judge’, Fabbro ‘blacksmith’

(5) according to special characteristics of the name bearer

For example, Bevilacqua ‘drink the water’, Piccolo ‘small’)

The twenty most common Italian surnames in Italy are Rossi, Russo, Ferrari, Esposito, Bianchi, Romano, Colombo, Bruno, Ricci, Marino, Costa, Conti, Greco, Gallo, Giordano, De Luca, Rizzo, Mancini, Villa, Lombardi

In Germany the distribution is somewhat different, as follows: Martini, Russo, Costa, Rossi, Esposito, Gallo, Romano, Marino, Greco, Bruno, Rizzo, Caruso, Galli, Santoro, Amato, Messina, Vitale, Leone, Lombardo, Longo, Gentile

Only ten of the most common surnames in Italy are also among the most common Italian surnames in Germany. Martini, which is in first place, should be disregarded, as this surname is probably mostly a German patronymic formation of the saint’s name Martin with a Latin genitive ending, which explains the high number of bearers of this surname. The same applies to Galli, where it is usually a local and not Italian surname. Bruno is mostly an Italian surname. Costa, Gallo, Romano, Marino can also be of other Romanesque origin, even if Italian origin can generally be assumed. One of the reasons for the different name rankings in Italy and Germany is certainly the origin of the immigrants, which has been dominated by southern Italians, especially in the last fifty years. In Germany, you will find more surnames typical of southern Italy, such as Caruso, Santoro, Amato, Messina, Vitale, Leone and Gentile, which are lower in Italy. Russo also appears as a southern Italian variant of the surname before Rossi. In contrast, surnames typical of northern Italy, such as Ferrari, Bianchi, Colombo, Conti and Villa, do not appear in the top twenty Italian surnames in Germany.

There are certain letter combinations that suggest an Italian surname. These can be at the beginning, middle or end of a word. Examples are:

Cia-: Ciampi, Ciampino, Ciardi, Ciardullo

Ghi-: Ghidelli, Ghiotti, Ghiotto, Ghirardi

Gia-: Giacolone, Giacometti, Gianelli, Gianni, Giannini, Giardino

Gio-: Gioia, Giordano, Giorgi, Giovanni, Giovine, Giovinetti

Giu-: Giudice, Giugliano, Giuli, Giuliani, Giusti, Giustiniano

Io-: Iodice, Iovine, Iovinella, Iovino

-cc-: Ciccone, Bacco, Piccolo, Pucci, Ricco, Taccone, Vaccaro

-cch-: Bocchi, Cecchietti, Cecchi, Cenacchi, Macchi, Tacchi, Vecchio

-ccio(-): Caracciolo, Carluccio, Piccione, Riccio

-cqu-: Bevilacqua

-gh-: Arrighi, Borghese, Borghi, Casiraghi, Cislaghi, Longhi, Righetti

-gli-: Battaglia, Bonfiglio, Castiglione, Ciniglio, Giglio, Pagliarini

-zz-: Lazzaroni, Mazza, Mazzola, Nazzaro, Pannuzzo, Pazzi, Pestalozzi, Pozzo, Rizzo

-allo: cavallo, rapallo

-ani: Furlani, Luciani, Magnani, Padovani

-ella: Gambardella, Nardella, Sardella, Zanella

-elli: Borrelli, Farinelli, Gianelli, Martelli, Martinelli, Nardelli, Spinelli, Vanelli

-ello: Fiorello, Pisanello, Rossello, Toffanello, Tumminello

-etta: Baretta, Barletta, Mistretta, Torretta

-etti: Bassetti, Cecchetti, Marchetti, Minetti, Moretti, Peretti, Simonetti, Zanetti

-etto: Merletto, Moretto

-ggio: Caravaggio, Maggio, Poggio

-illo: Fiorillo, Piccirillo, Pontillo, Rossillo

-ini: Giannini, Mancini, Marini, Palladini, Pallavicini, Perini, Zannini

-ino: Avellino, Guarino, Lombardino, Parrino, Rubino, Santino, Sorrentino

-olo: Caracciolo, Criscuolo, Piccolo

-one: Avallone, Capone, Castiglione, Ciccone, Cipollone, Faraone, Gallone, Iavarone, Merlone, Morrone, Pavone, Vallone

-oni: Albertoni, Bordoni, Guzzoni, Laconi, Marconi, Moroni, Mosconi

-otta: Bellotta

-otto: Finotto, Picciotto, Zuccotto

-sco: Guarisco, Moresco

-utti: Malagutti, Stefanutti

Italian surnames are mostly found in the German-speaking world in their original, i.e. unchanged spelling (Brentano, Martinelli, Peretti, Pestalozzi). But one can also observe adaptations to German language habits at all times:

Lingschier and Lindschier for Lingiero,

Zetto for Cetto,

Setti for Cetti,

Triack for Triacca,

Brotge for Broggia,

Brendan and Brandan for Brentano

Maranka for Maranca

Puricelli becomes Boroselli, Brus(s)el, Bursell, Bu(r)tschell, Porsal, Puriselli and Purtschel

Sozzini becomes Socin

Sometimes family names are also Germanized:

Prestinari (from dialect prestinaio/prestinaro ‘baker’) to Beck

Maggio to May

Albertalli becomes Alberthal,

Barbieri to Barbirer,

Angelini to Engel (cf. Italian angelo ‘angel’),

Castelli to Schloß (cf. Italian castello ‘castle’),

Merino to Meringer

Piazza to Place

Paravicini to Paravicini, Paravicin, Paravitz, Prawotzin, Pravotzin, Palavicine, Palavicini, Pallavicini,

Palleske, mostly of Slavic origin, in some cases goes back to the Italian Palleschi,

Giorgioni to Baumgartner is a name change that has no connection whatsoever between the German and the Italian family name.

Frenchifications of Italian family names of immigrants are relatively common:

Lingerie and Lingeric for Lingiero (Mainz),

Garosse and La Corosse for Carozza (Ottweiler, Homburg),

C(o)urte for Corti and Curti (Mainz).

Todskino by Tedeschino ‘little German’

Iodice for Jodic(e), Joidice, Ido(d)ice or Iodisl

Source

ANDREA BRENDLER Italian family names in German, 439 ff.