Polito
A Cornish surname probably linked to the Bolitho name, rather than directly to the Italian word for “polished.”
The #8,228 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 76,574 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest historical clue in the supplied sources is Charnock’s note that Polito is “see Bolitho,” suggesting it was treated as a Cornish name related to Bolitho rather than as a separate formation. In Cornish naming, the Bolitho group is often explained from local place-name elements involving a pool or hill, though the exact path from Bolitho to Polito is not fully secure. A later incidental source also mentions the Italian adjective polito, meaning “polished” or “clean,” but that looks more like a wordplay or alternative guess than a firm surname derivation.
History
The name appears in 19th-century Cornish surname discussions as a variant or related form of Bolitho, which points to Cornish regional usage. The Italian surname Polito is also well known in its own right, so in modern records the name may have more than one origin depending on family line. Because the evidence here is brief and partly indirect, the surname’s exact history should be treated cautiously.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In one older surname dictionary, Polito is explicitly cross-referenced under Bolitho, showing how closely 19th-century researchers linked the two forms.
From the historical record
“POLHAL, POLHILL. See Polwhele. POLITO. See Bolitho. POLKEARNE. See Polcbabne. POLKINGHORNE, POLKINHORN, POLKIN- HORNE, POLKENHORN, POLGANHORN. From Polkinghome in Gwinnear ; from pol-gan-hoarn^ a pool with (containing) iron, t. «., a chalyheate pool, a medicinal pool. Hence, by contraction, the name Polkom.…”
— Patronymica Cornu-Britannica; or, the etymology of Cornish surnames