SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Siena

Origin and meaning

Indicated a person from Siena in Italy, which was named after the Gaulish tribe of the Senones.

E. De Felice notes that this surname derives from the place name Siena and from the demonym senese (in its old form, sanese). The variants Sieni, Senesi and Sanesi present a high frequency in Tuscany, while Sanesi also appears in the Naples area, with a sporadic presence in other regions.

E. Rossoni indicates that the surname is found in a scattered way throughout Italy and that in many cases it is of Jewish origin. This last observation responds to a practice documented among the Italian Jewish communities, which during the 18th and 19th centuries adopted toponymic surnames —such as the name of the city where they resided or had resided— when obliged by the authorities to register a fixed surname.

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

Variants

Altered forms and derivatives

Geographic distribution: Tuscany (high frequency for Sieni, Senesi and Sanesi); Sanesi also in the Naples area; sporadic in other regions

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

Comparative analysis based on 3 authors: where they agree, the hypothesis is strengthened; where they differ, the alternative interpretations are presented.

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
  • Research conducted by Surnames in Italy, the English-language project of Ancestros Italianos, based on the bibliography cited in the references.