SURNAMES IN ITALY

Olivito

This form is an altered form of the surname Olivero.

Origin and meaning

There are at least three hypotheses on the origin of this surname:

  • According to E. Rossoni, it would derive from the Latin word olivarius (olive tree), referring to one who cultivates olives; it would be a surname derived from an occupation.
  • A. Bongioanni, in Nomi e Cognomi, notes that the French surnames Aulivard and Olivard allow one to suspect that the origin of these surnames lies in the root ala, ali = "foreigner" + wart = "defender".
  • It could derive from Olivier, a character of the chansons de geste of the Carolingian period (beginning of the 12th century), who was the brother-in-law and friend of the hero Roland. With the diffusion in Italy of French epic poems such as the Chanson de Roland in the 12th and 13th centuries, this name became popular in the peninsula, although Olivarius was already documented from the year 1040 in the locality of Pinerolo, near Turin.

Related surnames identified in Italy

Oliviero, Ulivieri, Vieri (Tuscan), Oliveri, Olivero (Piedmontese), Livierato (Venetan), Veratti, Veritti, and possibly Verili, Virili (Friulian).

Variants

Altered forms and derivatives

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

The 7 recorded variants show how a single group of related surnames evolved according to geographic area, historical period, and dialect.

Sources

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

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