SURNAMES IN ITALY

Surname Tropea

Origin and meaning

E. De Felice notes that this surname was formed from the place name Tropea —a locality of Calabria— and from its demonym tropeano, with the local variants trupia and tropiano. He indicates that the surname is typical of Calabria and Sicily, with a greater presence in the Catania area.

E. Rossoni agrees that the surname derives from the place name Tropea, specifying that that locality belongs to the Vibo Valentia area, in Calabria, and confirms its distribution in Calabria and in the Catania area, in Sicily.

Variants

Altered forms and derivatives

Geographic distribution: Calabria and Sicily; greater frequency of Tropea in the Catania area

📍 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.
  • Rossoni, E. (2002). Origine e storia dei cognomi italiani. Retrieved from https://www.cognomiitaliani.org