SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Lecce

Origin and meaning

E. De Felice identifies this surname as proper to the Salento area —that is, the southernmost zone of the region of Puglia, in southern Italy— and notes that it was formed from the place name Lecce and from its demonym leccese (in the Salentine dialect, leccise and leccisi).

E. Rossoni broadens the geographical distribution and observes that the surname is fairly widespread throughout central and southern Italy, deriving from the name of the city of Lecce. Rossoni further adds that it would not appear to be of Hebrew origin.

Altered forms and derivatives

Geographic distribution: Salento, Apulia

📍 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