SURNAMES IN ITALY

Sciacoviello

This form is a variant of the surname Sciacovelli.

Origin and meaning

E. De Felice describes this surname as a local phonetic variant of Giacovelli, referring to the onomastic base of Giacomo, with a high frequency in the Bari area, in the region of Apulia.

E. Rossoni specifies that the surname is proper to the Bari area, with presences documented in Santeramo in Colle, Triggiano and Modugno. Rossoni explains that both Sciacovelli and its rarer variant Sciacoviello derive from the medieval name Iacovello, a diminutive of Iacovo —an archaic form of Iacopo—, through a phonetic phenomenon of the Apulian dialect that transforms the initial diphthong Ia- into Scia-. The variant Sciacoviello is characteristic of Santeramo in Colle.

Variants

Geographic distribution: Apulia; high frequency in Bari

📍 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