Ferrara
An Italian surname most often taken from the city of Ferrara in northern Italy.
The #2,635 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 22,587 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Ferrara is usually a habitational surname, meaning someone was identified by the city of Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna. The place name is commonly linked to Latin ferraria, "ironworks" or "forge," referring to iron-working in the area. In surname use, it would originally have marked a person as coming from that town or region.
History
Ferrara has long been used as a family name in Italy and among Italian-descended communities abroad. As with many Italian locational surnames, it spread through migration rather than through a single founding family. The name is also borne by people whose ancestors likely came from the city itself or from its surrounding district.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The city of Ferrara was an important Renaissance court under the Este family, which helped make its name widely recognizable well beyond northern Italy.
From the historical record
“hardly in accordance with the higher traditions of his family. The name, AlpJwnso, of a Duke of Ferrara in the middle ages, was one given also by the Germans to a still more illustrious lineage in Spain. Alphonso is a contraction of the O.G. Adalfuns (adal, noble, funs, eager). The Saxon form of funs being fus, it…”
— Surnames as a Science