Surnames in Calabria, Italy

The lists of surnames were derived from the white pages of the 1990's for the recent lists, and from sources as indexes of births, "numerazioni", catasti onciari, parish records for previous centuries.

Common Surnames

The surnames recorded in the "tip of the boot", but common as well throughout southern Italy, and almost pan-Italian, as a result of internal emigration to Northern regions, are Bruno, Ferraro, De Luca, Esposito, Gallo, Gentile, Giordano, Mancuso, Marino, Pugliese, Rizzo, Russo.

Surnames in the Provinces of Calabria

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Surnames Divided by Region

Info on Italian Regions

Reggio Calabria

Updates: San Lorenzo | Seminara | Mammola | Molochio | Gerace

Vibo Valentia

Updates: Maierato | San Costantino Calabro | Monterosso Calabro | Drapia | San Gregorio d'Ippona

Features of Surnames in Calabria

Apart from pan-Italian surnames, a peculiar feature of some typical Calabrese surnames is a final accented vowel as in Calabrò, Aricò ("farmer"), Sgrò ("curly hair"), Nisticò ("fasting"), Spanò ("bald") e Praticò ("fatherly"); Cannistrà, Criserà e Barillà; Cutrì, Pennestrì, Putortì, Franzè.

Surnames of non-Italian Origin

Some common surnames in Calabria are connected to the historical presence of other cultures:

Greek origin, such as Greco, or connected to the Greek ending -iti and -oti as Minniti, Scopelliti, Misiti, Politi, Ascioti, Geracioti, Rotiroti; Laganò (from lacanas = orchard farmer).

Byzanthine ascendancy, as Romeo, derived from the medieval Byzantine name Romeo: Byzantines defined themselves as Romioi, that is Romans, and their traces in Sicily and Calabria are innumerable.
Arabic, such as Modafferi (from the Saracen name Mudaffar), Morabito from the Arabic word murabit (= one who preaches Islam on the street, a holy man), Mammone.
Northern, as Talarico (possibly from the apheresis of the Ostrogoth name Atalarico), Arcuri possibly from the Languebard Arculf, or from the Latin arcarius (= treasurer, tax collector), though another likely origin is from the Greek arkouda (= bear).