A name in Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

consists of a given name

Given name

A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...

 (nome) and a surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

 (cognome). Surnames are normally written after given names. Occasionally in official documents, the surname may be written before given names. In speech, the use of given name before family name is standard.

Italian names are not entirely equivalent to ancient Latin ones, for instance, the Italian nome is not analogous to the ancient Roman nomen, since the former is the given name (distinct between siblings) while the latter the family name (inherited, thus shared by all siblings).

Given names

Many Italian male given names end in -o but can also end in -e (for example Achille, Aimone, Alceste, Alcide, Amilcare, Amintore, Annibale

Annibale

Annibale, an Italian given name equivalent to Hannibal, may refer to:* Annibale Albani , Italian Cardinal* Annibale I Bentivoglio, , ruler of Bologna from 1443* Annibale II Bentivoglio , lord of Bologna in 1511–1512...

, Aristotele, Astorre, Baldassare, Beppe, Carmine

Carmine (disambiguation)

-People:* Carmine Appice, drummer.* Carmine Coppola, composer.* Carmine Coppola .* Carmine DeSapio, American politician, Tammany Hall boss* Carmine DeSopo, American politician* Carmine Giovinazzo, actor CSI:NY....

, Cesare

Cesare

Cesare, the Italian version of the given name Caesar, may refer to:* Giuseppe Cesare Abba , Italian patriot and writer* Cesare Battisti * Cesare Borgia , Italian general and statesman...

, Clemente, Daniele, Dante

Dante (name)

Dante is an Italian given name and surname. Etymologically, it is short for an old given name, Durante, and was originally made popular by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, whose real name was Durante.Notable people with the name include:...

, Davide

David (name)

David is a common male given name and surname. The name "David" is derived from the ancient times of Mesopotamia and used as the Biblical Hebrew name דָּוִד , meaning "Beloved". "Dudi" is a common nickname for David in Hebrew, in the same way Dave and Davy are in English.The Arabic and Assyrian...

(David), Emanuele

Emanuele

Emanuele may refer to:* Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia , Italian aviator* Emanuele Basile , captain of Carabinieri* Emanuele Belardi , Italian football player* Emanuele Calaiò , Italian football player...

, Ercole, Ettore, Felice, Gabriele, Gaspare

Gaspare

Gaspare may refer to:*Gaspare Ambrosini*Gaspare "Gap" Mangione*Gaspare Pacchierotti*Gaspare Spontini...

, Gastone, Gentile, Giosuè, Giuseppe, Leone

Leone (disambiguation)

-Given name:* Leone Battista Alberti, Italian Renaissance humanist polymath* Leone Caetani, Italian politician* Leone de' Sommi, Italian writer* Leone Ginzburg, Italian journalist* Leone Leoni , Italian Renaissance sculptor and medallist...

, Melchiorre, Michele

Michele

Michele, pronounced ‘mee-shell’, is an English female given name that comes from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common name Michelle....

, Oddone, Ottone, Pasquale, Raffaele, Salomone, Salvatore, Samuele, Scipione, Simone, Ulisse, Vitale, Vittore), in -i (for example Dionigi, Gianni

Gianni

Gianni is a male Italian forename , derived from the Hebrew Yohanan -Description:...

, Giovanni

Giovanni (name)

Giovanni is a male Italian given name , the Italian equivalent of John. Giovanni is occasionally spelled Geovanni, Giovonnie or Giovannie; however, this deviates from the original Italian, and, in this manner, is made a unisex name...

, Luigi

Luigi (disambiguation)

Luigi is a Nintendo video game character, younger brother of Mario.Luigi may also refer to:*Luigi , Italian given name -Fictional characters:* Luigi , 1959 Fiat 500 in the Pixar movie Cars...

, Nanni, Neri

Neri (surname)

Neri or Néri is a surname, and may refer to:*Alain Néri, French politician*Al Neri, a fictional character from the Godfather series*Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse, known as matron of nursing in that country*Antonio Neri, Italian glass maker...

, Ranieri) and in -a (for example Andrea

Andrea

Andrea is a given name common in many parts of the world:* In Czech, Serbian, Macedonian, Dutch, English, German, Hungarian, Scandinavian languages and Spanish, Andrea is used as a woman's name, as the feminine form of Andrew, Andreas, András, Andrés or Andre.* In Italy and Albania, Andrea is quite...

, Battista

Battista

Battista is a given name also surname which means Baptist in Italian.* Battista Agnese* Bobbie Battista* Giovanni Battista* Orlando Aloysius Battista, Canadian chemist and author....

, Elia, Enea, Evangelista, Luca, Mattia or Nicola). Some names, usually of foreign origin, end with a consonant, such as Christian

Christian (name)

Christian is a given name borne by males and females. The name is derived from the Latin Christianus, meaning "follower of Christ". It has been a commonly used as a name, since the Middle Ages - especially amongst females....

/Cristian, Igor, Ivan

Ivan (name)

Ivan is a Christian male given name that is primarily associated with Slavic languages.-Etymology:Ivan is the common Slavic Latin spelling, while Cyrillic spelling is two-fold: in Bulgarian, Russian, Macedonian, Serbian it is Иван, while in Belarusian and Ukrainian it is Iван.It is the Slavic...

, Loris

Loris (disambiguation)

Loris can refer to:* Loris, common name for the strepsirrhine primates of the subfamily Lorinae in family Lorisidae.*Loris, South Carolina, a city in South Carolina*Loris, an early pen name for the writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal...

, Oscar

Oscar (given name)

Oscar is a masculine given name in the English and Irish languages. Cognates include the Scottish Gaelic Osgar, and the German and Scandinavian Oskar, and the Finnish Oskari.-Etymology:...

, and Walter/Valter.

Female names end in -a but can also end in -e, as is the case with Adelaide

Adelaide (disambiguation)

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia.Adelaide is also commonly the given name AdelaideAdelaide may also refer to:- Place names :Australia* Places related to Adelaide, South Australia:** Adelaide city centre...

, Adele

Adele (disambiguation)

-In fiction:* Adele , a 1913 musical*The Story of Adele H., French film about Adèle Hugo* Adele, a 1919 film by Wallace Worsley* Adele, a character in the operetta Die Fledermaus-Other uses:* 812 Adele, an asteroid...

, Agnese, Alice

Alice (given name)

Alice is a feminine given name used primarily in English, French, and Italian. It is a shortened form of the Old French Adelais, which is derivation from the Germanic name Adalheidis, from the Germanic word elements adal, meaning noble and heid, meaning type...

, Beatrice, Berenice

Berenice

Berenice or Berenike is the Ancient Macedonian form for Attic Greek Φερενίκη , meaning "bearer of victory", from φέρω "to bear" + νίκη "victory". Berenika priestess of Demeter in Lete ca. 350 BC is the oldest epigraphical evidence. The name also has the form Bernice...

, Geltrude

Gertrude (given name)

Gertrude is a female given name which is derived from Germanic roots that meant "spear" and "strength". "Trudi", originally a diminutive of "Gertrude", has developed into a name in its own right....

, Irene, Matilde

Matilde

-People:*Matilde Camus *Matilde Casazola *Matilde Hidalgo *Matilde E. Moisant *Matilde Serao *Matilde Urrutia *Matilde Zimmermann...

and Rachele for example, in -i (for example Noemi), or even with a consonant (e.g. Nives, Ester).

A few names end with an accented vowel, for instance Niccolò

Niccolò

Niccolò is an Italian male given name, a variation of Nicola. It may refer to:In literature:* Niccolò Ammaniti, Italian writer* Niccolò Machiavelli, political philosopher, musician, poet, and romantic comedic playwright...

 and Giosuè.

Almost every base name can have a diminutive form ending with -ino/-ina or -etto/etta as in Paolino/Paoletto and Paolina/Paoletta from Paolo and Paola, -ello/-ella, as in Donatello/Donatella from Donato and Donata, or -uccio/-uccia, as in Guiduccio from Guido. The forms -uzzo/-uzza, as in Santuzza from Santa, are typical of Sicilian dialect.

The most common names are:

• For males: Giuseppe, Antonio
  Antonio
  Antonio is a Greek, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish first name. In the English language it is translated as Anthony, and has some female derivatives: Antonia, Antónia, Antonieta, Antonietta, and Antonella...
  
  , Giovanni
  Giovanni (name)
  Giovanni is a male Italian given name , the Italian equivalent of John. Giovanni is occasionally spelled Geovanni, Giovonnie or Giovannie; however, this deviates from the original Italian, and, in this manner, is made a unisex name...
  
  , Francesco, Mario
  Mario (given name)
  Mario is the Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Greek form of the Roman name Marius. The Portuguese version of the name is spelt Mário, while the Greek version is spelt Marios...
  
  , Luigi
  Luigi (name)
  Luigi is an Italian given name, equivalent to the name Louis and Lewis.-Crime and law:* Luigi Chiatti , serial killer* Luigi de Magistris , prosecutor* Luigi Ferrari Bravo, jurist...
  
  .
• For females: Maria, Anna
  Anna (given name)
  Anna is a Latin form of the Greek name Greek Ἄννα and the Hebrew name Hannah . Anna is in wide use in countries across the world as are its variants Anne, originally a French version of the name, though in use in English speaking countries for hundreds of years, and Ann, which was originally the...
  
  , Rosa, Giuseppina, Angela
  Angela (given name)
  Angela is a female given name. It is derived from the Greek word ángelos , meaning "messenger of God".In the United States, the name "Angela" was at its most popular between 1965 and 1979, when it was ranked among the top 10 names for girls, but it has been ranked among the 300 most popular names...
  
  , Giovanna.

This is true, although not many children happen to have these names nowadays.

Since the ancient Romans had a very limited stock of given names (praenomina), very few modern Italian given names (nomi) are derived directly from the classical ones. A rare example would be Marco

Marco (given name)

Marco is the Italian version of the personal name "Mark", and may refer to:-Music:* Marco Hietala, a Finnish bass guitarist and singer* Marco Mengoni, italian singer* Marco Minnemann, a German drummer-Other fields:* Marco Amelia, Italian footballer...

(from Marcus). Some nomi were taken from classical clan names (nomina)—for their meanings or because they are euphonic, not necessarily because the nameholder is the descendant of the clan, such as Emilio

Emilio (disambiguation)

Emilio is a given name common in the Italian and Spanish languages and may refer to:-Given name:* Emilio, Mexican-American singer * Emilio A...

/Emilia

Emilia (name)

-Etymology:Emilia is a feminine given name derived from the Roman feminine name Aemilia. The Latin name Aemilius/Aemilia in turn may derive from the same root as the Latin word aemulus, which means to rival, excel, or emulate, but this may be a folk etymology.The gens name Aemilia was translated...

 (from Aemilius

Aemilius

The gens Aemilia, originally written Aimilia, was one of the most ancient patrician houses at Rome. The family was said to have originated in the reign of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, and its members held the highest offices of the state, from the early decades of the Republic to...

), Valerio

Valerio

Valerio or Valério is a male given name in several languages, derived from the Roman surname Valerius, which itself is derived from the Latin verb valere - "to be strong". Valerio also appears as a family name or surname-Dissemination:...

/Valeria (from Valerius

Valerius

Valerius is the nomen of gens Valeria, one of the oldest patrician families of Rome. The name was in use throughout Roman history...

), Claudio/Claudia (from Claudius

Claudius (gens)

The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic...

), Orazio (from Horatius

Horatius

Horatius is the nomen of the Roman gens Horatia. Some of its members were:* The Horatii, three members of the Horatia gens who fought to the death against the Curiatii during the reign of Tullus Hostilius.* Marcus Horatius M. f...

), and Fabio

Fabio

Fabio, Fábio is a given name descended from Latin Fabius. Fabianus originates from Fabius and it is equivalent to the English Fabian.It may refer to:-Performing arts:* Fabio Grossi, Italian principal dancer* Fábio Júnior, Brazilian singer...

 (from the cognomen Fabius

Fabius

The gens Fabia was one of the most ancient patrician families at Rome. The gens played a prominent part in history soon after the establishment of the Republic, and three brothers are said to have been invested with seven successive consulships, from BC 485 to 479...

), Flavio

Flavio

Flavio, re de' Longobardi is an opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Matteo Noris's Il Flavio Cuniberto. It was Handel's fourth full-length opera for the Royal Academy of Music...

/Flavia

Flavia (name)

Flavia is an Ancient Roman name meaning “blonde” from the Latin word “flavus”, meaning “golden, blonde”. It is a feminine form of the Roman family name Flavius. The name is most commonly used in Italy, France, Romania, Brazil and in Spanish-speaking countries.Flavia is the name of Roman Catholic...

 (from Flavius

Flavius

Flavius was a gens of ancient Rome, meaning "blond". The feminine form was Flavia.After the end of the popular Flavian dynasty of emperors, Flavius/Flavia became a praenomen, common especially among royalty: the adoption of this praenomen by Constantine I set a precedent for some imperial...

).

Some given names have the prefix "Gian-" such as Gianluca

Gianluca

Gianluca is an Italian masculine given name. Its English translation is "John Luke" and it is often a shorter form of "Giovanni Luca".*Gianluca Basile- Italian basketball player*Gianluca Bollini- Sammarinese footballer...

 and Gianfranco where "Gian" is short for Giovanni

Giovanni (name)

Giovanni is a male Italian given name , the Italian equivalent of John. Giovanni is occasionally spelled Geovanni, Giovonnie or Giovannie; however, this deviates from the original Italian, and, in this manner, is made a unisex name...

. Another prefix is "Pier-" (short for Pietro), as in Pierpaolo, Pierangelo, Pierantonio and so on.

Italian unisex name

Unisex name

A unisex name, also known as an epicene name, is a given name that is often given to either a boy or a girl. Some countries, however, require that a given name be gender-specific or have enough names with male and female versions...

s are very rare (a few examples are Celeste and Andrea) , but the feminine name Maria is common as a masculine second name, as in Gianmaria, Carlo Maria, Anton

Antonio

Antonio is a Greek, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish first name. In the English language it is translated as Anthony, and has some female derivatives: Antonia, Antónia, Antonieta, Antonietta, and Antonella...

 Maria, etc.

Surnames

Italy has the largest collection of surnames (cognomi) in the world, with over 350,000. Men—except slaves—in ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 always had hereditary surnames, i.e., nomen (clan name) and cognomen (side-clan name). However, the multi-name tradition was lost by the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 and it was not until the 1564 Council of Trento that registration of surnames became mandatory in parishes.

Suffixes

A large number of Italian surnames end in i, due to the medieval Italian habit of identifying families by the name of the ancestors in the plural (which have an -i suffix in Italian). Most likely the surnames end in "i" due to the old latin genitive. For instance, Filippo from the Ormanno family (gli Ormanni) would be called "signore Filippo degli Ormanni" ("Mr. Filippo of the Ormannos"). In time, the middle possessive portion ("of the") was dropped, but surnames became permanently pluralized and never referred to in the singular, even for a single person. Filippo Ormanno would therefore be known as Filippo Ormanni. Some families, however, opted to retain the possessive portion of their surnames, for instance Lorenzo de' Medici

Lorenzo de' Medici

Lorenzo de' Medici was an Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance. Known as Lorenzo the Magnificent by contemporary Florentines, he was a diplomat, politician and patron of scholars, artists and poets...

 literally means "Lorenzo of the Medici" (de is a contraction of dei, also meaning "of the"; c.f. The Medicis).

Some common suffixes indicate endearment (which may also become pluralized and receive an -i ending), for example:

• -ello/illo/etto/ino (diminutive
  Diminutive
  In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
  
   "little"), e.g., Bernardino, Bernardello
• -one (augmentative
  Augmentative
  An augmentative is a morphological form of a word which expresses greater intensity, often in size, but also in other attributes...
  
   "big"), e.g., Mangione
• -accio/azzo/asso (pejorative
  Pejorative
  Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
  
  ), e.g., Boccaccio

Other endings are characteristic of certain regions:

• Veneto
  Veneto
  Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
  
  : -asso, -ato and consonants (l, n, r); -on: Bissacco, Zoccarato, Cavinato, Brombal, Meneghin, Perin, Vazzoler, Peron, Francescon, Zanon, Fanton
• Sicily
  Sicily
  Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
  
  : -aro, -issi and "osso": Cavallaro, Badlissi, Rosso (Sicily, Piedmont and Veneto)
• Lombardy
  Lombardy
  Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
  
  : -ago/ghi, -engo/enghi, -ate/ati: Salmoiraghi, Bonati, Vernengo
• Friuli
  Friuli
  Friuli is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, excluding Trieste...
  
  : -otti/utti and -t: Bortolotti, Pascutti, Codutti, Rigonat
• Tuscany
  Tuscany
  Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
  
  : -ai and -aci/ecci/ucci: Bollai, Balducci
• Sardinia
  Sardinia
  Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
  
  : -u, -as and -is: Pusceddu, Schirru, Marras, Argiolas, Floris, Melis, Abis
• Piedmont
  Piedmont
  Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
  
  : -ero, -audi, -asco,-zzi: Ferrero, Rambaudi, Comaco, Bonazzi
• Calabria
  Calabria
  Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
  
  : -ace: Storace
• Campania
  Campania
  Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
  
  : -iello: Borriello

Origins

Like most other European surnames, patronymics are common. Originally they were indicated by a possessive, e.g., Francesco de Bernardo, meaning "Francis (the son) of Bernard". De Luca ("[son] of Luke") remains one of the most common Italian surnames. However, de ("of") was often dropped and suffixes added, hence de Bernardo evolved to be Bernardo and eventually pluralized as Bernardi (see Suffixes above).

The origin or residence of the family gave rise to many surnames, e.g.,

• habitat: Della Valle ("of a valley"), Montagna ("mountain"), Burroni ("ravines")
• specific placename: Romano ("Roman"), Puglisi/Pugliese ("Apulia
  Apulia
  Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
  
  n"), Greco
  Greco (surname)
  Greco is an Italian surname, one of the most common in the whole country, and it literally means "Greek". Historically, its popularity is due to the frequent relationships between Italy and Greece: in particular, it spread within the Griko communities in the South of Italy and the Arbëreshë...
  
  ("Greek"), da Vinci ("from Vinci
  Vinci, Italy
  Vinci is a town and comune of Firenze province in the Italian region of Tuscany. The birthplace of Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci lies just outside the town.-Geography:The town is surrounded by the Tuscan Hills...
  
  ")
• nearby landmarks: La Porta ("the gate"), Fontana ("fountain"), Torregrossa ("big tower"), D'Arco ("of the arch")

Ancestors' occupation was also a great source of surnames.

• Job title: Contadino ("farmer"), Tagliabue ("ox-cutter"), Passagero ("toll-collector")
• Objects (metonyms) associated with the vocation: Zappa ("hoe", farmer), Delle Fave ("of the beans", grocer), Martelli ("hammer", carpenter), Tenaglia ("pincer", smith), Farina ("flour", baker), Forni ("ovens", cook), Marin
  Marin (surname)
  Marin or Marín is a common surname in France, Italy , Spain, Romania and diaspora in America. It is also a common given name in Croatia...
  
  ("sea", fisherman)

Nicknames, referring to physical attributes or mannerism, also gave rise to some family names, e.g., Rossi (from rosso

Rosso (surname)

Rosso is a surname of Italian origin, which means red. The name refers to:* Antonio De Rosso , head of the Orthodox Church in Italy and the Metropolitan of Ravenna and Italy...

"redhead

Red hair

Red hair occurs on approximately 1–2% of the human population. It occurs more frequently in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations...

"), Basso ("short"), Caporaso ("shaved head"), Pappalardo ("lard-eater" or most likely it derives from a Greek pappas aleardos, a noble priest ), Rumore

Rumore (surname)

The surname may be of nickname origin, being derived from a personal attribute or physical characteristic of the first bearer. In this case, the surname is derived from the Italian word "Rumore" which means noise, din, clamour, outcry and uproar...

 ("Noise"), and Barbagelata ("frozen beard").

Few family names are still in the original Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 e.g. Santorum, De Juliis, Canalis, or De Laurentiis reflecting that the family name has been preserved from Medieval Latin

Medieval Latin

Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...

 sources as a part of their business or household documentation or church records.

Articles

Beginning in the Renaissance

Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...

, when referring to others by their surnames alone, Italians used a definite article as well (in the singular, il for most parts, and l before vowels). Mario Russo, therefore, would have been called il Russo ("the Russo"), especially in literary circles and in writing. Given names were rarely preceded by an article. Il Mario Russo was considered by learned Italians to be erroneous, while il Russo Mario correct. However, in northern Italy, given names—especially females' names—were (and still are) preceded by articles (la Maria, la Gianna).

Names that are derived from possessions of noble families normally never had articles preceding them such as Farnese (from a territorial holding) and Cornaro

Cornaro

The Cornaro, also known as Corner, are an illustrious patrician family in Venice, from which for centuries senior office-holders and Doges sprung...

(from a bishopric

Prince-Bishop

A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...

). Articles were omitted for those surnames with an identifiable foreign origin (including Latin ones) such as Cicerone.

This practice somewhat resembles the Greek custom of placing definite articles before all names (see Greek names). This Greco-Italian practice even spread to French in the 17th century, especially in writings regarding figures in literature and painting such as le Poussin

Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin was a French painter in the classical style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. His work serves as an alternative to the dominant Baroque style of the 17th century...

.

The practice of using articles before surnames was less common in ordinary conversation and middle-class speech. After the early 19th century (Napoleonic era), the custom started to dwindle in all contexts and by the 100s had basically died out, except in the most formal documents (such as legal proceedings), and some exceptions (il Petrarca

Petrarch

Francesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...

and, less often, il Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...

).

External links

• List of Female and Male Italian Names
• Italian Surnames: The Funny, Surprising, and Just Plain Weird
• La mappa dei cognomi: Enter an Italian surname to see its distribution