Surname Grieco
Origin and meaning
The scholars consulted agree that Grieco is an archaic form of Greco, derived from the medieval byname or ethnic name that designated someone who came from Greece or belonged to the grika, the Greek-speaking community of Magna Graecia. Its area of greatest concentration covers Campania, Basilicata, and the northern part of Apulia.
E. Rossoni notes that a toponymic derivation is also possible, whether from Grieci — a locality in the Benevento area — or from other place names, as documented by a record from Solofra, in the Avellino area, dated 1497.
F. Miranda broadens the geographical picture, indicating that the surname is present in almost every region of Italy, with notable frequency also in Lombardy, Lazio, Piedmont, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, and Molise. In Sicily it appears in specific, localized areas in the provinces of Palermo, Catania, Messina, Agrigento, and Syracuse, and also in the Enna area.
It is also considered that the adjective greco could designate not only someone of Greek origin but also, by extension, a clever or shrewd person.
💡 The surname Grieco also appears as variant of the surname Greco in other studies consulted in this project.
Variants
- Greco 📄 (own page)
Geographic distribution: Campania, Basilicata, northern Apulia
📍 You can view how this surname is distributed in Italy: View distribution in Italy (Cognomix)
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
- Miranda, F. (2013). I cognomi di Regalbuto, Catenanuova e Centuripe. Ginevra Bentivoglio EditoriA.
- Research conducted by Surnames in Italy, the English-language project of Ancestros Italianos, based on the bibliography cited in the references.