Esposito
also Esposto, Sposito
'The exposed' — the foundling name of Naples.
- Origin
- Italian
- Register
- Italian family
The seat of Esposito
Seat vacantChief
No one leads the Esposito community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.
Current mission
No shared goal set yet. Once Esposito has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.
The Esposito clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.
Help rebuild the Esposito clan →What does the Esposito name mean?
From esposto, 'exposed' or 'placed outside' — the name given to foundlings, the abandoned infants left at the church wheel. The great surname of Naples.
The history of Esposito
Esposito is one of the most poignant surnames in Europe. It was given to the esposti — babies left at the ruota, the revolving wheel set into a convent wall where a desperate mother could place a child unseen and ring a bell. The foundling hospitals of Naples took in tens of thousands and gave them a name that marked their beginning: the one placed outside.
By the sheer scale of Neapolitan foundling care it became one of the commonest names of southern Italy, and travelled in huge numbers to America in the southern migration — a name born of abandonment carried, in the end, into millions of families who made their own dignity of it.
Explore With Your Ancestors · Beta
Pick any year from 500 to 1945 and any place on earth — the Esposito country, or a shore no Esposito ever reached. The chronicler sets the scene; the deeds are yours.