SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Raia

Origin and meaning

E. Rossoni and V. Blunda agree that, in eastern Sicily, the surname may derive from the dialect term raja or ràja, which designates the ray, a flat marine fish.

Rossoni further puts forward as the main hypothesis a possible Luso-Spanish origin, from the name of a zone of Portugal (Raia, Plan de Raia) on the border with Extremadura.

Blunda specifies that it is a cartilaginous fish of rhomboidal body, a habitual catch of the Sicilian coastal fishermen. As a surname it could have originated in a nickname applied to a person of broad and flattened figure, or linked to its fishing.

Geographic distribution: It would seem to have several areas of presence: in Sicily and in the Naples area (southern Italy).

📍 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:

  • Rossoni, E. (2002). Origine e storia dei cognomi italiani. Retrieved from https://www.cognomiitaliani.org
  • Blunda, V. (2018). Supposte origini dei cognomi in Sicilia [Digital edition]. Retrieved from https://www.trapaninostra.it