Esposito
A classic Italian surname that originally meant a child who had been left exposed or abandoned.
The #1,576 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,548 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Esposito comes from Italian esposto, meaning "exposed" or "left out," ultimately from Latin expositus, "placed outside" or "set forth." In surname use, it was commonly attached to foundlings or abandoned children, especially in southern Italy, and later became a hereditary family name. The name is therefore not a nickname in the modern sense, but a historical label that referred to a person's uncertain parentage or foundling status.
History
The surname is especially common in southern Italy, where foundling surnames were often created from words meaning "exposed" or "found." Over time, what began as a descriptive label became a fixed hereditary surname. It is now one of the best-known Italian surnames in Italy and among Italian diaspora communities.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In some Italian places, foundlings were deliberately given surnames like Esposito, which made the name especially common in records from orphanages and parish registers.