Sardinian Surnames

Sardinian surnames are surnames with origins from the Sardinian language or a long, identifiable tradition on the Western Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

History

Oldest records

In Roman epigraphs from Sardinia, onomastics sometimes appear that would later come back in medieval and/or modern times. We mention for example: (CIL, X, 7876) that reverberates in the medieval / / / / ; (CIL, X, 7877), related to the surname / ; / and the medieval / ; to today's surname ; to the medieval and today's .

Medieval and Early modern records

Among the most valuable sources for the study of ancient Sardinian onomastics are the condaghes, administrative registers of the Sardinian Judicates dating back to the 11th-13th centuries, as well as the , a 1388 peace treaty between John I of Aragon and Eleanor of Arborea, in which most of today's Sardinian surnames can be found, often written with a slightly different spelling (e.g. , today ).

Since the mid-16th century, thanks to the institution of the , decided at the Council of Trent, it is possible to reconstruct the history and evolution of Sardinian surnames generation after generation. Surnames were frequently inherited from the maternal side, from the Middle Ages up to contemporary times.

Etymology

Current Sardinian surnames originated in the late Middle Ages. Most of the Sardinian-specific surnames derive from the Sardinian language, denoting toponyms (e.g. , from Bitti or and , from Fonni), in particular of ancient villages (e.g. , a village in the of Nurra, and resulting in today's , or , in the ''curatoria'' of Gippi, from which derive today's and ) now largely disappeared (it is well known, as recorded by the historian John Day, the abandonment of hundreds of Sardinian villages during the 14th century because of the Black Death and the Sardinian-Catalan war), animal names (e.g. "pig", "magpie", "puppy dog" etc.), plant names (e.g. "melon", "flower"), color names (e.g. "white", "black"), nicknames (e.g. "Sebastian"), sometimes indicative of a personal trait (e.g. "big") or of a filial relationship (e.g. , "son/daughter of Mr. "), and to a lesser extent anthroponyms (e.g. , "Marc" etc.) or trade names (e.g. "blacksmith"); some of them derive from forms related to the Paleo-Sardinian substratum and sometimes already attested as onomastic forms in Sardinian epigraphs from the Roman period.

Among the Sardinian-language surnames which trace their roots outside the island, the most relevant percentage (7% of the total) is constituted by surnames from Corsica (France), or those indicating a possible Corsican origin (e.g. , formerly written , that is "Corsican" or , "Corsica"); these are widespread mainly, but not exclusively, in the Northern Sardinian regions of Gallura, Anglona and Sassari, where people from Corsica are recorded to have settled down and even influenced the local linguistic landscape. A considerable migratory flow coming from the other side of the Strait of Bonifacio occurred, in fact, since the Middle Ages and ended only in the first decades of the 19th century.

Relatively common are also surnames originating from the Italian peninsula or indicating a possible Italian origin (e.g. , ancient e.g. , meaning from Massa, the Sardinian-language or the Italian equivalent , meaning from Pisa, from Perugia), some of which are documented starting from the Judicates' period, and especially Ligurian and Tuscan surnames due to the political relations and trade between Sardinia and the two maritime republics of Genoa and Pisa; among the most influential in Sardinian history, the ''Lacon-Massa'' (Obertenghi), the Doria, the Visconti etc.

Quite significant is also the number of Iberian surnames, or surnames originating from the Iberian peninsula and specifically from the region of Catalonia (e.g. , , etc.). There are also cases of surnames that indicate an Iberian origin, even illustrious ones, already attested in records pertaining to the Judicates, such as ("John the Catalan") or ("Constantine from Mallorca"), or the same royal family of the Arborean Judicate, the , who partly descended from the 's line, Visconts of Bas; they brought a large following to Arborea, including perhaps the progenitors of the families, from the Catalan "Gerard".

Frequency

The following surnames are the twenty most widespread ones in Sardinia: overall, 10 of them are required to identify 10% of the Sardinian population, and less than 100 for one third of all the island's residents.
*Sanna
*Piras
*Pinna
*Serra
*Melis
*Carta
*Manca
*Meloni
*Mura
*Lai
*Murgia
*Porcu
*Cossu
*Usai
*Loi
*Marras
*Floris
*Deiana
*Cocco
*Fadda

Most widespread Sardinian surnames by Province

The following surnames are the most widespread ones by Province, the most common of which is ("fang").

See also

*Sardinia
*Sardinians
*Sardinian language

References

Bibliography

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*Robert J. Rowland, ''Onomastic Remarks on Roman Sardinia'', ''Names '' 21:2, 1973, 82-102
*Heinz Jürgen Wolf, ''Sardische Herkunftsnamen'', in: ''Beiträge zur Namensforschung'', 1988, v. 23 (1-2), S. 1-67
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*{{cite book, author=Tommaso Tuccone, title=Buddusò. I cognomi dal Settecento ai giorni nostri, place=Buddusò, year=2016

Sardinia
Sardinian culture
Sardinian language
Surnames of Sardinian origin