Domenichini

This form is a variant of the surname Domenici.

Origin and meaning

In this post we will review a long list of Italian surnames derived from first names, in this case Domenico. The name Domenico (Domenicus = Sunday) is a masculine given name of Latin origin. It comes from the Latin dominus (lord), and its meaning is "consecrated to the Lord", as Sunday is the day of the week dedicated to God. Another meaning attributed is "he who was born on Sunday."

According to an estimate from the year 2000 Domenico was the thirteenth most common Italian male name; according to Bongioanni's study, this is due to the use of names of Christian religious tradition to name people, which were later transformed into surnames. In this case, it is about devotion to St. Domenico.

Domingo de Guzmán (1170-1221) was a Castilian priest and Catholic saint, founder of the Order of Preachers, better known as Dominicans. The Basilica of Santo Domingo is one of the main places of worship in Bologna (Italy) and the main seat of the Dominican Order.

The name Domingo = Domenico in Italian dialects

In addition to the linguistic phenomena that we have already mentioned, we have to take into account the variants of a proper name in dialects. Thus Domenico is transformed into:

Variants

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

This surname shows a notable variety of forms: 15 variants are documented, the result of dialectal adaptations, spelling changes, and transformations that occurred with migration.

Sources

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

  • Research conducted by Surnames in Italy, the English-language project of Ancestros Italianos, based on the bibliography cited in the references.