Capone
A surname of Italian origin, most likely from a word for a capon or cockerel, used as a nickname or descriptive byname.
The #6,595 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 60,126 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is generally connected with Italian capone, a word for a capon or a cockerel, ultimately from Latin capō, meaning a capon. In older surname work, this was treated as a nickname surname, comparable to other bird- and animal-based bynames. The older excerpts also preserve a related form, Capon, and gloss it with a term for a young cock.
History
Capone is well known as an Italian surname and appears in medieval Italian records. The excerpts mention Pietro Capone in Florence in 1194, showing the name in use in late medieval Italy. Outside Italy, the surname is especially familiar in the United States through later immigration and through the fame of Al Capone.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root also produced the English surname Capon, showing how a single nickname could travel across languages and spelling traditions.
From the historical record
“Capon.— Hick. ' the capon,' b youngcock'; A.5, cdjftiiK. 'Capvne, or capone ; gallituKiia ' : Prompt. Parv. Cf. Cock, Henn, Cockerell, &c. In East Aiiglia the has always held its own. Ralph CapoD, en. Norf., lau”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instancesNotable people named Capone
- Al Capone (1899–1947)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.