SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Poggi

Origin and meaning

Means "dweller on a hill(ock)" from  poggio.

E. Rossoni and F. De Laurentiis agree that the surname derives from place names of the Poggio type ("a small rise on a gentle slope"), widely distributed throughout Italy.

Rossoni mentions as examples Poggio d'Asti (Asti area) and Poggio di San Remo (Imperia area), and adds that it could also derive from nicknames related to characteristics of the terrain.

De Laurentiis notes that it is diffused in the centre-north, with a greater frequency in Liguria, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, and adds that it also has as its base the demonyms corresponding to those place names.

💡 The surname Poggi also appears as variant of the surname Poggio in other studies consulted in this project.

Variants

Geographic distribution: Poggi: the Milan, Pavia, Alessandria, Piacenza and Liguria area. Poggiato: extremely rare, the Verona area. Poggio: the Alessandria, Asti, Savona and Genoa area

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

Drawing on 3 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:

  • Rossoni, E. (2002). Origine e storia dei cognomi italiani. Retrieved from https://www.cognomiitaliani.org
  • De Laurentiis, F. (2003). Cognomi occhiobellesi. Storia, curiosità, significati e classifiche. Occhiobello: Teatro Polivalente di Occhiobello (T.P.O.). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20030516113456/http://www.comune.occhiobello.ro.it/cognomi/
  • Research conducted by Surnames in Italy, the English-language project of Ancestros Italianos, based on the bibliography cited in the references.