From the word "re" = king.

Reale is an attributive surname derived from the Italian adjective reale ("royal," "of the king"), from the Latin regalis. It originated as a byname applied to people linked in some way to the royal or seigneurial sphere (function, dependence, residence, behaviour), or to those who lived near places called Reale (palaces, lands or properties of the king).

Typology of the surname

• Qualifying byname: "the Royal one," "the King's one."
• Indirect toponymic: a reference to goods or spaces called reali (royal lands, royal palaces).
• It is not a patronymic nor does it derive from medieval given names.

Distribution in Italy

A pan-Italian surname, with a greater frequency in the south:

• Sicily
• Calabria
• Campania

It also presents secondary nuclei in Lazio and in the centre-north, generally through later internal migrations.

Variants

• Reale: a pan-Italian surname, with important concentrations in Sicily, Calabria and Campania.
  The simple form derives directly from the adjective reale ("royal," "regal"), with an attributive or toponymic value.
• Reali: present mainly in the centre-north of Italy (especially Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna).
  The suffix -i indicates a family or collective plural, typical of consolidated lines.
• Del Re: distributed in various regions of northern and central Italy, with nuclei in Piedmont and Veneto.
  The prepositional form indicates belonging, dependence or relation with "il Re" (the king).
• Di Re: more frequent in southern Italy, especially in Campania and Apulia.
  The preposition Di points to origin, filiation or symbolic relation with the term Re.
• Lo Re: a form typical of the south, very characteristic of Sicily.
  The article Lo preserves a southern dialectal structure, frequent in Sicilian surnames.
• Regale: present more sporadically in southern Italy.
  It keeps the same semantic value as reale, with a phonetic and graphic variation of dialect origin.