Romance
Italian family heritage
The Latin tongues — French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian.
Clan Rising is the living atlas of European family heritage, built one people at a time. Italian heritage is now on the map — the meaning of your surname, the homeland it came from, and the stories that travelled with it into the diaspora.
On the map
Where Italian heritage sits in Europe
This is the homeland on the modern map. The names below already file here; the heritage regions that subdivide it, and the deeper map, are coming next.
Italian names already in the atlas
- Rossi'The reds' — the commonest surname in all Italy.
- Russo'The red one' — the south's answer to Rossi.
- FerrariThe smith — Italy's Smith, and a name that means speed.
- Esposito'The exposed' — the foundling name of Naples.
- Bianchi'The whites' — Rossi's fair opposite.
- Romano'The Roman' — citizen, descendant, or pilgrim.
- Colombo'The dove' — and the name of Columbus.
- Ricci'The curly-haired' — and the hedgehog's name.
- Marino'Of the sea' — and the saint who founded San Marino.
- Greco'The Greek' — Magna Graecia in a surname.
- Bruno'The dark one' — nickname and saint's name at once.
- Gallo'The rooster' — for the proud and the lively.
- Conti'The counts' — bearing, service, or pageant.
- CostaOf the slope or shore — a name shared with Portugal.
- Giordano'Jordan' — a name carried home from the Crusades.
- Mancini'The left-handed' — a name with a wary edge.
- Rizzo'The curly-haired' — Ricci's southern cousin.
- Lombardi'The Lombard' — northerner, and medieval banker.
- Moretti'The little dark one' — Moreau's Italian cousin.
- De Luca'Of Luke' — the evangelist's name, southern-style.
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