Lepore
An Italian surname most often explained as a nickname or regional form linked to a hare or rabbit.
The #7,075 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 65,260 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lepore is generally treated as an Italian surname connected with Latin *lepus, leporis*, meaning “hare.” In Italian, forms built on this root could be used as nicknames for someone thought to be swift, timid, or hare-like in some other figurative sense. In some cases the name may also reflect a regional or dialectal development from the same animal word rather than a direct literary Italian form.
History
The surname is strongly associated with southern Italy, especially areas where Italian surnames were shaped by local dialect and by nickname-based naming. Like many Italian surnames, it later spread through migration to other parts of Europe and the Americas, including the United States. In modern records, Lepore is especially recognizable as an Italian-American surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The root behind Lepore is the same one that gave English the learned word “leporine,” meaning “rabbit-like.”