Catania
An Italian surname taken from the Sicilian city of Catania, on the island’s east coast.
The #9,527 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 90,488 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Catania is a habitational surname: it identifies someone as having come from the city of Catania in Sicily. In Italian surnames, place-names often became family names when people moved away and were identified by their home town. The ultimate place-name is ancient, but as a surname it simply means “from Catania.”
History
The name is most strongly associated with Sicily and with Italian migration more broadly. In English-speaking countries it usually appears as a surname carried by families of Italian origin. The excerpt provided lists Catania among Italian place-based names, supporting this locational reading.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Catania is also the name of one of Sicily’s major cities, located on the island’s eastern shore near Mount Etna.
From the historical record
“Areola, Solferino, Magenta, Lucca, Taranto, Brindisi, Bres- cia, Casanova, - Elba, Li pari, - Terranova, Ragusa, Cefalu, Geraci, Cerda, Tivoli, - Catania, Messina, Campobello, Taor- mina, Termini, Nicosia. Bronte, Palma, Palermo, Marsala, Eufemia, Siracusa, Spartivento, - Manfredonia, Puzzuli (Puz- zuoli), Maremma.…”
— A Grammar of American Surnames