Esposito

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Esposito (Italian pronunciation:

Italian surname. It ranks fourth among the most widespread surnames in Italy.[1] It is mostly popular in the Campania region, most specifically, in the Naples area.[2][3]
but it has presence even in the rest of Italy.

Etymology and history

past participle of the Latin verb exponere ("to place outside", "to expose") and literally means "placed outside", "exposed".[4] In accordance with the original Latin form, the name is correctly pronounced stressing the antepenultimate syllable (i.e. [eˈspɔːzito]); however, it is common among English-speakers to mispronounce it as /ˌɛspəˈzt/ ESP-ə-ZEE-toh
, placing the stress on the penultimate.

Italian tradition claims that the surname was given to

unification of Italy
, laws were introduced forbidding the practice of giving surnames that reflected a child's origins. A crude meaning is bastard or out of wedlock child.

As a surname, Esposito has produced a number of variants throughout modern Italy, such as D'Esposito, Degli Esposti, Esposti, Esposto, Sposito, etc. Other variants are also found in the Spanish-speaking world, for example Expósito.

Notable people

References

  1. ^ "I 100 cognomi più diffusi in Italia" (in Italian). Cognomix. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  2. ^ "ESPOSITO Surname Meaning and Family History". Archived from the original on 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
  3. ^ "Esposito" (in Italian). Gens. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  4. ^ Ottorino Pianigiani, Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana, di Ottorino Pianigiani, Roma-Milano, Società editrice Dante Alighieri di Albrighi, Segati e c., 1907
  5. ^ "Trasformazione dell'Ospizio degli Esposti-Revamp of the Ospizio degli Esposti" (in Italian). Biblioteca Salaborsa. Retrieved 27 April 2010.