SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Groi

Origin and meaning

E. Rossoni considers this a surname of southern Italian origins, and holds that it could be an aphaeretic dialect form of the surname Sgroi.

V. Blunda places it specifically in Sicily and links it to the Sicilian dialect word gròi, meaning "crane". According to this author, as a surname it may have originated in a zoomorphic nickname applied to a tall person with a long neck, in the likeness of that wading bird. Blunda further notes that the variant Grova reflects the final i/v fluctuation proper to Sicilian.

Variants

Geographic distribution: Southern Italy

📍 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