The name Gaspare, known mainly for being that of one of the Magi of Christian tradition, has an ancient and complex origin. Some scholars relate it to Oriental roots linked to the Persian world, while others, such as Zambaldi, hold a possible Celtic origin. According to various historical and symbolic interpretations, Gaspare would represent the Aryan peoples of India and Persia within the tradition of the Magi of the East. From this name a huge quantity of dialectal, hypocoristic and patronymic variants developed in Italy, giving rise to numerous surnames distributed in different regions of the country.

E. De Felice and F. De Laurentiis consider, on the other hand, that it derives from an ancient Oriental or Iranian root, transmitted to Latin in the forms Gaspar or Gasparus.

From this name a very wide family of surnames arose, developed by means of dialectal forms, hypocoristics, diminutives and patronymics. Among them are Gaspari, Gasparini, Gasparetti, Gasparetto, Gasparelli, Gasparolo, Gasparola, Gasparone, Gaspardis, Gasparo, Guspero, Sperini, Sperino, Sperelli, Speretti, Speroni, Parri, Parrini, Parola, Parolin, Paroletti, Paretti, Sparone and numerous regional variants.

According to E. Rossoni, all the surnames of the Gaspari family derive directly or indirectly from the Late Latin name Gaspar or Gasparus. The historical documentation records already in the 14th century the presence of patronymic forms such as Gasparini.

Several authors also note that some variants developed from the popular forms Pero, Piero and Piro may coincide phonetically with surnames derived from Pietro, so that certain cases admit alternative etymological interpretations.

In Tuscany popular forms such as Gáspero and Guaspárri appear, from which surnames such as Parri and Parrini would derive. In the Friulian area there are variants such as Gáspar, Gaspárd, Góspar and Gúsper, which gave rise to surnames such as Gaspardis, Gósparo and Gúspero.

From diminutives and dialectal deformations of the original name a wide series of surnames later arose, spread throughout Italy:

• Gasparetti and Paretti in Piedmont.
• Gasparini, Sperini and Parini in Lombardy.
• Sperino in Piedmont.
• Gasparelli, Sperelli, Speretti, Gasparetti and Paretti in different areas of northern Italy.
• Gasparolo, Gasparola, Parola and Parolin in the Veneto.
• Paroletti in Piedmont.
• Gasparone, Gasparoni and Sparone in Piedmont.
• Speroni in Padua.
• Gasparús in Friuli.
• Parussa, Parússolo, Parussolatti and Parussolin in Friuli.

In some of these surnames a lexical root linked to the world of bird hunting could also concur. Zambaldi mentions particularly the Piedmontese forms Parussia and Paruzza, as well as Friulian words related to small birds and falconry, an activity historically very widespread in Friuli. This is relevant because the Friulian lexicon possesses an extraordinary richness of terms linked to the capture and rearing of birds, which could have influenced the parallel formation of certain phonetically similar surnames.

The series of derivatives linked to Gaspare does not end there. Forms such as the following also appear:

• Perona and Peroni in Piedmont.
• Pirola and Pirolini in Lombardy.
• Pirona in Friuli.
• Perelli in Lombardy.
• Peruzzi, Perissini, Perissinotti, Perissinutti and Perusini as possible phonetic and dialectal derivations related to Gaspare.

This opens an interesting line of analysis regarding surnames such as Perusini, whose origin can be interpreted in different ways. On the one hand, there is a toponymic derivation linked to ancient Perugia, known in Roman times as Perusia. From that root forms such as Perusius, Perusi and later Perusini would have arisen, together with related variants such as Perugini, Perugino, Peruselli and Perusino.

According to the Italian philologist and etymologist Francesco Zambaldi (19th century), author of studies on etymology and the formation of Italian surnames, the name Gaspare could have a Celtic origin, although other interpretations link it to the Persian and Oriental world. His research also notes the possible relation between Gaspare and various Italian surnames arisen through dialectal forms, diminutives and regional phonetic transformations. For this reason, surnames such as Perusini or even Peruzzi may present multiple etymological interpretations, linked both to Perusia and to variants derived from Gaspare, Piero or Pietro.

This superposition is common in Italian onomastics, where for centuries Latin, the regional dialects and the local vulgar forms coexisted, giving rise to surnames of diverse origin but phonetically similar.