SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Sabato

Origin and meaning

From the first name Sabato, Sabatino = Saturday, given at times to children born on said day of the week.

E. De Felice and E. Rossoni agree that the surname derives from a personal name related to the term sabato ("Saturday").

De Felice specifies that it was formed from the name Sabato —rare and antiquated—, derived from sabato, given to children born on that day of the week; from the name Sabatino (feminine Sabatina), derived from sabato with the same motivation; and from the altered forms Sabatello and Sabatuccio, with various regional variants —among them the forms in -d-, proper to the north. He adds that the name Sabatino is old and is already common in documents of the 8th century in the Latinized forms Sabatinus or Sabbatinus.

Rossoni derives it from the medieval name, fairly diffused among Jews, Sabatus or Sabbatus. He suggests as an alternative hypothesis that, in some cases, it could derive from the name of the Sila river anciently called Sabatus.

Rossoni notes that the surname is typical of southern Italy, with one area in the Salento and another in the Naples, Salerno, Avellino and Potenza areas.

Variants

Altered forms and derivatives

Geographic distribution: The South (fundamental forms); Italy (high frequency in the Sabatino or Sabatini type); the peninsular South (forms in -iello and Sabatella); forms in -d- proper to the North; forms in -in Venetan; Zabatino of eastern Sicily

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

This entry brings together what 3 authors propose about the origin of the surname. In some cases they agree and reinforce a single hypothesis; in others, they contribute different views worth considering.

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.
  • Rossoni, E. (2002). Origine e storia dei cognomi italiani. Retrieved from https://www.cognomiitaliani.org
  • Research conducted by Surnames in Italy, the English-language project of Ancestros Italianos, based on the bibliography cited in the references.