La Rocca
An Italian surname meaning “the rock” or “the fortress,” originally a place-based name for someone from a rocky stronghold or settlement.
The #7,301 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 67,604 Americans shares it.
Etymology
La Rocca is an Italian surname built from the article la, meaning “the,” and rocca, meaning “rock” or more specifically a fortress, stronghold, or hilltop castle. In surnames, it usually pointed to someone who lived near such a place or came from a locality called Rocca. The ultimate root is Latin rocca, a word associated with rocks and defensive heights.
History
Surnames of this type became common in medieval and early modern Italy, especially in areas with many villages and fortifications named Rocca or La Rocca. The form is often written as two words in Italian records, but immigrant families abroad frequently fused it into Larocca or LaRocca. It is most strongly associated with Italian and Italian-American naming patterns.
Origin
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Fun fact
In Italian place names, rocca often signals a town’s old defensive stronghold, so this surname can hint at an ancestor from a hilltop fortress or rocky settlement.