SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Luini

Origin and meaning

The authors agree that the surname derives from the place name Luino, a locality in the province of Varese, in Lombardy.

E. De Felice places its origin in northern Lombardy, in the Milan area. E. Rossoni specifies that the surname is typical of Milan and of the Varese area, and notes that the form Luino —much rarer— appears associated with Caramagna Piemonte, in the Cuneo area, and with Turin. According to Rossoni, both forms would go back to the same place name.

Rossoni further adds that the place name Luino comes from the dialect term lüina (plural i lüinn), which in Lombard speech means "landslip" or "landslide".

Variants

Altered forms and derivatives

Geographic distribution: Upper Lombardy, Milan

📍 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