SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Soncini

Origin and meaning

The surname Soncini may derive from a place name, that is, the name of a place, indicating where the family came from. For example, it may have been a surname given to a person who came from the comune of Soncino, in the province of Cremona, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy.

In the second half of the 1400s three Jewish printers took refuge in the comune of Soncino, fleeing from Germany —the Inquisition—: Yehoshua, Shelomoh and Gershom Nathan, who changed their surname to Soncino, giving rise to a very important family of publishers and printers. This surname is found in Lombardy, but above all in Emilia, in Parma and Reggio Emilia.

Variants of the surname

Soncino and Sonzino are two very rare variants. Soncín is found in the Friuli area, Venice, Pavia and Milan. Sonzini has its roots in Varese and Milan (two provinces of Lombardy).

Variants

Geographic distribution: North (sporadic; predominantly Jewish)

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