SURNAMES IN ITALY

Arado

This form is a variant of the surname Arata.

Origin and meaning

E. De Felice and E. Rossoni agree that the surname derives from place names of the type Arata or Arato.

De Felice specifies that it is widespread in north-central-western Italy, and especially in Liguria. He notes that it was formed from the place names Arata, Arato and Arado, frequent in that area as names of cultivated localities ("ploughed land, tilled soil").

Rossoni cites as an example the Borgata Arata, in the municipality of Marmora, in the Cuneo area.

P. Regati identifies it as a surname typical of Rapallo.

Variants

Geographic distribution: North-central-western Italy, Liguria

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

Drawing on 3 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:

  • De Felice, E. (1978). Dizionario dei cognomi italiani. Milano: Mondadori.
  • Rossoni, E. (2002). Origine e storia dei cognomi italiani. Retrieved from https://www.cognomiitaliani.org
  • Regati, P. (2003). Cognomi genovesi e liguri. Retrieved from https://digilander.libero.it/paolore2/cult_tradiz/cognomi.html