Testa
A surname from the Latin and Romance word for a pot, jar, or head, often used as a nickname or descriptive byname.
The #4,084 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 35,512 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Testa comes from Latin testa, meaning an earthen pot, tile, shell, or skull/head. In medieval Romance languages, the word developed into a common noun for the head in some regions, which makes it a natural source for a nickname surname. As a surname, it may originally have been applied to someone with a notable head shape, a distinctive head of hair, or perhaps to a potter or someone associated with earthenware, depending on local usage.
History
The surname is especially associated with Italy, where Testa is a well-established family name. It also appears in French and other Romance-language records, sometimes as a nickname-like byname and sometimes as part of medieval documentary names. Because the same spelling can reflect more than one local tradition, separate family lines may not share a single origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In classical Latin, testa could mean either a clay pot or the top of the head, which is why the word has produced several different surname interpretations over time.
From the historical record
“molina, a mill] Adam de Molyneus. — Testa de Nevill. MOLL (A.-Heb. and Teut.) a dim. of Maty; also (Mall) oi Matilda : v. Malkin. (Eng.) an A.-Sax. male name borne e.g. by an eighth-century Northumbrian”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)