Massa
A surname found in several traditions, most often as an Italian name and sometimes as a form related to place names or older personal names.
The #5,677 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 50,523 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In Italian records, Massa is most naturally connected with place-name roots from Latin m\u0101ssa, meaning a lump, mass, or estate; that word also lies behind many medieval place names called Massa. In some cases it may instead reflect a shortened or altered form of another name, since surnames like this can arise independently in more than one place. The very broad spread of similar forms in European languages makes a single origin hard to prove for every family called Massa.
History
The name appears in Italy and in other parts of Europe, and later became established in the Americas through immigration. Because the form is short and common-looking, separate families may share the surname without sharing the same ancestry. Historical sources cited here mention the spelling only incidentally, so they do not establish one fixed pedigree.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Latin m\u0101ssa is the source of both the ordinary word "mass" and many place names, which is one reason surnames like Massa can be hard to pin to a single family line.
From the historical record
“Thomas Jose. 1370 : P. T. Yorks. p. a66. 1752. Married— ^omas Joce and Sarah Massa : St. Geo. Chap. Mayfair, p. 214, Wil”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)Notable people named Massa
- Felipe Massa (b. 1981)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.