SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Schillaci

Origin and meaning

The authors agree that this surname is of toponymic origin and derives from Squillace, a locality of the province of Catanzaro, in the region of Calabria. It is therefore a variant of the surname Squillace.

F. Miranda specifies that the ancient place name of Squillace was Skyllation, and that Schillaci is diffused in Sicily —with a presence in all its provinces, especially in the Palermo, Catania, Caltanissetta and Enna areas— and, to a lesser extent, in regions of the north and centre of Italy such as Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna, Liguria and Veneto. E. Rossoni, for his part, also notes the Sicilian origin of the surname and its link with the Calabrian place name Squillace.

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

Variants

Geographic distribution: Sicily, the Catanzaro area (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:

  • Rossoni, E. (2002). Origine e storia dei cognomi italiani. Retrieved from https://www.cognomiitaliani.org
  • Miranda, F. (2013). I cognomi di Regalbuto, Catenanuova e Centuripe. Ginevra Bentivoglio EditoriA.