SURNAMES IN ITALY

Loffredo (Abreviados)

This form is an altered form of the surname Goffredo.

Origin and meaning

The authors agree that this surname has as its base the Germanic name Goffredo (older Gottifredo), formed by the elements gudha- or goda- ("God; good", German Gott) and frithu- ("peace, friendship", German Friede), with the meaning "peace of God" or "protected by God".

V. Blunda offers an alternative reading: he proposes that the original Germanic compound would be Gaut Fridus, formed by gaut ("Goth") and fridus ("peace, truce"), with the meaning "peace of the Goths" or "Gothic truce". Blunda further notes that the many variants of the surname reflect regional phonetic adaptations of the Germanic compound in different areas of southern Italy, and he regards it as a surname rooted in Sicily.

A. Bongioanni adds that in Piedmont the patron saint of the diocese of Saluzzo is San Chafré, venerated also in the Briançon area, whose name is a dialect form of Goffredo. He likewise notes that the variant Giuffrida is the most frequent surname in the Catania area.

Variants

Altered forms and derivatives

Geographic distribution: The South, with high frequency (Giuffrida is the most frequent surname in Catania); Piedmont and Liguria for Gioffredi

📍 You can view how this surname is distributed in Italy: View distribution in Italy (Cognomix)

Comparative analysis based on 3 authors: where they agree, the hypothesis is strengthened; where they differ, the alternative interpretations are presented.

Sources

This entry of the Italian Surname Meanings dictionary is based on the following specialized onomastic sources:

  • Bongioanni, A. (1940). Nomi e Cognomi. Saggio di ricerche etimologiche e storiche. Milano: Fratelli Bocca.
  • De Felice, E. (1978). Dizionario dei cognomi italiani. Milano: Mondadori.
  • Blunda, V. (2018). Supposte origini dei cognomi in Sicilia [Digital edition]. Retrieved from https://www.trapaninostra.it