SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Tani

Origin and meaning

E. De Felice explains that this surname was formed from the aphaeretic hypocoristics Tano, Tanino and Tanuccio, derived from Gaetano or also from Ottaviano and its diminutives. Two attestations of the Libro di Montaperti of Florence, dated 1260, confirm it: Tanus filius Gaetani and Tanus filius Ottaviani. Both authors agree that the surname has a high frequency in Tuscany and appears sporadically in Emilia-Romagna.

F. De Laurentiis also mentions the feminine form Tana among the hypocoristics of origin, a detail that De Felice does not explicitly gather.

Altered forms and derivatives

Geographic distribution: Tuscany (high frequency); Emilia-Romagna (sporadic)

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

This entry brings together what 2 authors propose about the origin of the surname. In some cases they agree and reinforce a single hypothesis; in others, they contribute different views worth considering.

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.
  • De Laurentiis, F. (2003). Cognomi occhiobellesi. Storia, curiosità, significati e classifiche. Occhiobello: Teatro Polivalente di Occhiobello (T.P.O.). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20030516113456/http://www.comune.occhiobello.ro.it/cognomi/