Ruccella
This form is a variant of the surname Roccella.
Origin and meaning
The authors agree that the surname derives from Italian place names that share the name Roccella, present mainly in Sicily and Calabria. Among them are Roccella Valdemone, in the Messina area; Roccella Jonica, in the Reggio Calabria area; and various localities linked to the Palermo area.
F. Miranda specifies that the name of these places comes from the fact of having been founded or located on a crag or rock, and that the term roccella means "little rock." He further notes that the surname is also found, in a scattered way, in other regions such as Lombardy, Liguria, Lazio and Piedmont.
On the distribution in Sicily, Miranda indicates that the specific areas of greatest presence include the Catania area, the Enna area, the Messina area, the Palermo area and the Syracuse area. E. De Felice, for his part, circumscribes the origin of the surname to three main place names: Roccella in the Palermo area, Roccella Valdemone in the Messina area and Roccella Jonica in the Reggio Calabria area.
Variants
Altered forms and derivatives
Geographic distribution: Sicily and southern Calabria
📍 You can view how this surname is distributed in Italy: View distribution in Italy (Cognomix)
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.
- Miranda, F. (2013). I cognomi di Regalbuto, Catenanuova e Centuripe. Ginevra Bentivoglio EditoriA.