The surnames Mazza / Mazzo (together with their derivatives) have a complex origin and may be explained by several routes:

• Germanic hypocoristic: a reduced form of names such as Mazzo or Matzo, documented from the 8th century in Latinized variants such as Mazzus or Mazzolus.
• Byname from a tool or weapon: in Italian mazza means "mace, club, hammer", which gave rise to surnames such as Mazzetta, Mazzuola, Mazzolo and Mazzuolo, linked to trades such as blacksmithing or to military and judicial functions.
• Toponymic: derived from localities such as Mazzo (Sondrio), Mazzano, Mazzè or Mazzoleni. In some cases these gave rise to very localized lines, as in the Valle Imagna (Bergamo) with Mazzoleni from the 14th century.
• Deverbal compound formations: these are surnames created from a verb or verbal expression, often as expressive popular nicknames. In this case they are formed by joining mazza with another word. Examples:
  • Mazzabòve → "he who strikes or kills oxen" (a nickname linked to work with draught animals).
  • Mazzacane → "he who strikes or kills dogs" (an expressive nickname, possibly ironic).
  • Mazzalupo → "he who strikes or kills wolves" (a symbolic reference to bravery or to hunting).
  • Mazzamoro → compounded from mazza ("mace, staff") and moro. In medieval Italy, moro could refer both to people of dark skin or eyes and to the "Moors" in the historical sense —Muslims of North Africa, present in the Italian peninsula during incursions and armed conflicts between the 9th and 11th centuries. The joining of the two elements suggests a surname born as an expressive nickname, with the meaning "to strike the Moors" or "to kill Moors", within a cultural and military context in which that reference was recognizable and charged with meaning.
  • Mazzanobile → admits a double reading in the Italian onomastic tradition. On the one hand, it may be understood as an expressive deverbal surname, born in the Middle Ages from mazza ("mace, staff") and nobile ("noble"), with the satirical or mocking value proper to the popular nicknames of the period. On the other hand, in Sicily it is documented as a Palermitan line of ancient nobility, whose name is said to have arisen from the transcription of Mazza nobili di Spagna, an Aragonese family settled on the island in the 16th century. According to the chronicler Mugnos, this line traces its origin to the battle of Alcoraz (1096), in which the knight Don Fortugno distinguished himself at the head of 300 soldiers armed with maces, a byname that passed to his descendants and gave rise to the surname.
  • Mazzagreco → "he who strikes Greeks" (an ethnic nickname, probably ironic).
  • Mazzacurati → formed from mazza ("mace, staff, hammer") and curare ("to care for, to tend, to treat"). This combination may be read as a byname applied to people who used the mace in contexts of work or of war and who, at the same time, were connected with the action of curare, that is, of tending or caring. In this sense, the surname reflects the union of two apparently opposed notions: the strength evoked by the mace and the dedication expressed by curare. Its origin goes back to a descriptive designation of medieval daily life, rather than to any mocking intention, and its diffusion is historically concentrated in the area of Bologna and Ferrara, where it still preserves a significant presence today.
  • Mazzavòve / Mazzabove → a variant of Mazzabòve, with an identical sense.

In his Dizionario dei cognomi italiani (1978) and in I cognomi italiani (1980), E. De Felice divides the surnames beginning in Mazz- into five groups:

• Denominal: these come from a common noun. Example: from mazza (= staff) arise Mazzetto, Mazzini, Mazzolo, Mazzali, Mazzanti.
• Deverbal: these are formed from a verb or action, as mentioned above.
• Germanic deonymic: derived from given names of Germanic origin, such as Matzo.
• Greek deonymic: taken from Greek names, for example Mathias, which gives rise to Mazzeo, Mazzella, Mazziotto.
• Toponymic: these originate in the names of places. Examples: Mazzara (→ Mazzarese), Mazzarino, Mazzoleni.

In all, De Felice documents 31 forms, mostly within groups 1 and 2. In his work Aspetti della suffissazione nel sistema dei cognomi italiani, Stephan Schmid takes up De Felice's classification and broadens it with a more detailed analysis based on telephone directories of Switzerland, where he found 110 surnames with Mazz-. Of these, 84 correspond to the denominal type (mazza), 7 to deverbal compounds, 4 to Greek patronymics, 4 to toponymics, and the rest to other sources or are difficult to interpret. Schmid subdivides the Mazza type into five subgroups:

1. Mazza ("strong, solid staff"): examples → Mazza, Mazzella, Mazzina, Mazzetto.
2. Mazz(u)ola/o ("stonecutter's mallet, tool"): examples → Mazzola, Mazzolini, Mazzolatti, Mazzolari.
3. Mazziere ("person armed with a mace"): examples → Mazzer, Mazzeri, Mazzaro, Mazzariello.
4. Dialect matsok ("child"): examples → Mazzocco, Mazzocut, Mazzucco, Mazzuccato.
5. Mazzo ("bunch, bundle of flowers or herbs"): examples → Mazzo, Mazzu, Mazzi, Mazzini.

Suffixes found in surnames derived from Mazza

The derivatives of Mazza show a great variety of suffixes:

• Diminutives: -at(t)-, -ell-/-iell-/-ill-, -ett-/-itt-, -ol-/-iol-, -in-, -ott-, -ull-, -ut-.
• Augmentatives: -on-.
• Romance (derivational): -al-, -an-, -ant- (e.g. Mazzali, Mazzanti, Mazzantini).
• Of Germanic origin: -ard-, -ald-/-old- (e.g. Mazzardi, Mazzoldi).

In some cases there are combinations of suffixes:

• Mazzoncini, Mazzonzelli, Mazzonetto (augmentative + diminutive).
• Mazzucotelli (double diminutive).

Summary — groups of surnames related to mazza

• Denominal (derived from mazza = staff, mace): Mazza, Mazzali, Mazzanti, Mazzetto, Mazzina, Mazzini, Mazzoli, Mazzolini, Mazzolatti, Mazzolari, Mazzoleni, Mazzoldi, Mazzolo, Mazzonetto, Mazzoncini, Mazzonzelli, Mazzucotelli, Mazzu, Mazzuccato, Mazzucco, Mazzuola, Mazzuoli, Mazzuolo, Mazzer, Mazzeri.
• Deverbal (compounds with a verb, from (am)mazzare): Mazzabòve, Mazzacane, Mazzalupo, Mazzamoro, Mazzanobile, Mazzavòve, Mazzacurati, Mazzagreco.
• Deonymic (derived from given names):
  • Greek (from Mathias): Mazzeo, Mazzella, Mazziotto.
  • Germanic (from Matzo): Mazzardi, Mazzarini.
• Toponymic (from places): Mazzara, Mazzarese, Mazzarino.
• Hypocoristics / affective variants: reduced or dialect forms, used as diminutives or affectionate nicknames: Mazzaro, Mazzariello, Mazzocut, Mazzocco.

Mazzola, Mazzolini and the wealth of variants

The surname Mazzola is found throughout Italy, with the greatest concentration in Sicily (province of Palermo) and in the Milan area, in Lombardy. It is a direct variant of Mazza, and according to E. Rossoni, in Sicily it may also have a particular semantic origin: in Sicilian dialect, mazzola means "thick staff", which reinforces the hypothesis of a functional byname.

The surnames Mazzolini and Mazzolino likewise show a wealth of forms and meanings. Mazzolini is documented in various regions (Udine, Brescia, Milan, Bologna, Forlì, the Marche), while Mazzolino is rarer and appears to be confined to northern Italy. Both may derive from Germanic diminutives (Mazzi, Mazzo), although it is also plausible that they were formed from the noun mazza, as a nickname linked to strength or violence.

One curious detail: as early as the year 1000, at Tivoli, a Dux Mazzolinus is documented, and centuries later one of the most celebrated bearers was the painter Ludovico Mazzolino (Ferrara, 1480–1530).