SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Spinelli

Origin and meaning

From the word "spina" = thorn. It might alsobe even the abbreviation of the name Malaspina, used in the Middle Agea. Spini enoted a person who lived near thorn bushes, from  spina "thorn, spine", from Latin. There may have been different origins. From the medieval name Hospinello, or the short form of Crispino, or the fish spinello, or the spinello which is a precious stone, or from the towns of Spinello (one in the Province of Foggia and another in the Province of Cosenza) or Spinelli (one in the Province of Pisa and another in the Province of Salerno).

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

Variants

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

The 5 recorded variants show how a single group of related surnames evolved according to geographic area, historical period, and dialect.

Sources

This entry of the Italian Surname Meanings dictionary is based on the following specialized onomastic sources:

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