SURNAMES IN ITALY

Iselli

This form is a variant of the surname Isella.

Origin and meaning

E. De Felice considers this surname proper to north-western Lombardy and derives it from the place name Iselle, a locality in the Novara area.

E. Rossoni offers a different reading: he notes that the surname is infrequent and originates in the Brianza —a historical subregion of Lombardy—, and proposes that it could have Frankish roots, probably deriving from a personal name such as Angisel or Ansegisel.

Variants

Geographic distribution: North-western Lombardy

📍 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:

  • 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