SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Molteni

Origin and meaning

The surname Molteni is an Italian surname of toponymic origin, closely linked to the locality of Molteno, situated in the present-day province of Lecco, in Lombardy.

According to P. Lastrico, Molteni arose as a surname identifying people who came from Molteno, a habitual practice in northern Italy, where movement between villages and towns favoured the fixing of surnames derived from the place of origin. In this case, the surname points literally to "the one who was from Molteno".

This type of formation is very frequent in the Lombard sphere and became established especially between the Late Middle Ages and the Modern Age.

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.
  • Research conducted by Surnames in Italy, the English-language project of Ancestros Italianos, based on the bibliography cited in the references.