SURNAMES IN ITALY

Selvi

This form is a variant of the surname Selva.

Origin and meaning

E. De Felice notes that this surname was formed from the place name Selva, widely represented in the zone, and also refers to the form Silva. Its presence covers from the north to the centre of Italy, extending as far as the Abruzzo and the Naples area.

E. Rossoni specifies that the surname presents multiple independent lines of origin (ceppi), arisen in different regions without a direct relation between them. He identifies an important nucleus in the Valtellina and the Como and Lecco areas, another in the Bologna area, one more between the Venice area and Friuli, and an additional line in the Naples area. Rossoni indicates that it would derive from names of localities and documents records of the surname in the Valtellina from the 13th century.

Variants

Geographic distribution: North to Centre, as far as the Abruzzi and the Naples area

📍 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