SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Saccaro

Origin and meaning

E. De Felice and E. Rossoni agree that the surname derives from the Sicilian and Calabrian dialect term saccaru or saccà ("itinerant water seller, water carrier"), derived in turn from the Arabic saqqā' ("water carrier").

De Felice adds that, in some cases, in the zones of greater Byzantine and Modern Greek linguistic influence, it could also have as its base the Modern Greek sakkâs ("maker, seller of sacks").

Rossoni identifies it as very infrequent, typical of western Sicily.

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

Variants

Geographic distribution: Sicily and Calabria

📍 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:

  • 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