SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Alimena

Origin and meaning

E. Rossoni and V. Blunda differ on the origin of the surname.

Rossoni derives it from the place name Alimena, in the Palermo area, or directly from the surname of the Alimena marquises, whose name comes from the Greek alimena ("inexorable").

Blunda, on the other hand, derives it from the Arabic etymon al imām ("the priest, the imam"), the Muslim religious leader who directs the communal prayer. He notes that Alimena is also a municipality in the Palermo area, whose name preserves the same Arabic root.

Geographic distribution: Area of Palermo, with derived clusters in Cosenza and Lazio

📍 You can view how this surname is distributed in Italy: View distribution in Italy (Cognomix)

Drawing on 2 authors, this entry presents the different hypotheses about the origin of the surname, avoiding a single oversimplified explanation.

Sources

This entry of the Italian Surname Meanings dictionary is based on the following specialized onomastic sources:

  • Rossoni, E. (2002). Origine e storia dei cognomi italiani. Retrieved from https://www.cognomiitaliani.org
  • Blunda, V. (2018). Supposte origini dei cognomi in Sicilia [Digital edition]. Retrieved from https://www.trapaninostra.it