Piazza
An Italian surname from the word for a public square or open place, sometimes used as a nickname for foundlings in England.
The #4,232 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,878 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Piazza comes from Italian *piazza*, meaning a square, open public space, or marketplace. As a surname in Italy it would most naturally have arisen as a topographic or locative nickname for someone associated with a piazza. In English records, however, 19th-century writers noted that the name was sometimes given to parish children or foundlings, apparently as a reference to where they were exposed or found.
History
The surname is clearly Italian in form, and many modern bearers in English-speaking countries descend from Italian immigrant families. Lower also noted a separate English usage in parish registers of the 17th and 18th centuries, where Piazza was used for foundlings baptized in London parishes. That English practice seems to have been an administrative naming habit rather than a hereditary family surname in the usual sense.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same word behind the surname is still used in Italian for a town square, so the name literally points to a very public place.
From the historical record
“knoAvn word. PIAZZA. It aj>pears from the baptismal registers of the parish of St. Paul, Coven t Garden, during the reigns of Charles II., James II., William III., and even latei", that Piazza was a favourite name for parish children. These records abound with Peter Piazza, Paul Piazza, Mary Piazza, &c. They were…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom