Fortunato
A name built from Latin for “lucky” or “fortunate,” often used as a personal name before becoming a surname.
The #8,201 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 76,290 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Fortunato comes from the Latin adjective fortunatus, meaning “blessed,” “prosperous,” or “fortunate,” ultimately from Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck and fate. In Italian and other Romance languages, it survived as a given name and later passed into hereditary surname use. As a surname, it likely began as a nickname or inherited personal-name surname for someone associated with good fortune or simply named Fortunato.
History
The name is common in Italy and in Italian-speaking communities, and it is also found in Spain and Portuguese-speaking areas in related forms. In many cases, surnames of this type were originally taken from baptismal names rather than from a literal description of a person’s luck. The surname spread to the Americas through Italian and other Southern European migration.
Origin
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Fun fact
Fortunato is also a familiar literary name, appearing in Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Cask of Amontillado.”