SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Senarega

Origin and meaning

E. De Felice, E. Rossoni and P. Regati agree that the surname derives from the place name Senarega, a centre of the Val Brevenna, in the Genoa area.

Rossoni adds that it corresponds to a noble family of Genoa, which was feudatory until the year 1400 of the lands of Senarega, in Val Brevenna, from where they took their name. He mentions Matteo Senarega (1534–1606), who was doge of Genoa between 1595 and 1597.

Geographic distribution: Central Liguria, especially Genoa (frequent)

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

Drawing on 3 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
  • Regati, P. (2003). Cognomi genovesi e liguri. Retrieved from https://digilander.libero.it/paolore2/cult_tradiz/cognomi.html