Where the Amato surname comes from
Amato comes from a personal name, the Latin Amatus: “beloved.” It was an auspicious name, chosen for a child who was awaited, wanted and protected by God. Then the son of an Amato became “Amato’s boy” to everyone, and the father’s name settled on the family.
A deed from the late 12th century, in Irpinia, shows this step almost as it happens. The PDF tells what it says, and why there is a town with the same name in Calabria.
A name from a thousand years ago
In the 11th century a monk named Amato wrote one of the most important chronicles of the medieval South. It told of knights who came down from the North, and one famous detail of English history may be owed to him. The PDF tells who he was, and how his book survived.
Where the Amatos live today
Amato is a great surname of the South: there are about 15,700 families in Italy. It has two hearts, Campania and Sicily, followed by Apulia. The town where it is number one is in Sicily: Palma di Montechiaro, in the province of Agrigento. Outside Italy the largest community is in the United States. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world they reached are in the PDF.
Variants
The same name gave rise to different forms in the South and in Central and Northern Italy, including a few diminutives. The PDF explains where each one comes from.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Amato | Campania, Sicily, Apulia |
| Damato | Campania, Apulia, Sicily |
| D’Amato | Campania, Apulia, Sicily |
| Amati | Lombardy, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna |
| Amatucci | Marche, Campania, Lazio |
| Amatulli | Apulia |
| Amata | Sicily |
FAQ
What does the surname Amato mean?
It comes from the Latin Amatus, “beloved.” It was an auspicious name given to a child who was awaited and wanted, and it later became the family’s name.
Is Amato a surname from Campania or from Sicily?
Both. Campania and Sicily are the two hearts of the surname, followed by Apulia. The town where it is the top surname is in Sicily: Palma di Montechiaro, in the province of Agrigento.
Are Amato and D’Amato the same surname?
They share the same origin. D’Amato and Damato mean “son of Amato” and are at home in Campania and Apulia. In old registers the same family can appear once with the apostrophe and once with the name run together.
Does the Amato surname come from the town of Amato in Calabria?
Almost never. Amato families are too many and too widespread to all come from a town of 700 people. It’s possible that some Calabrian family took the name from the town, but no document proves it.
Are all Amatos related?
No. The surname comes from a very common personal name, carried by many families with no ties to one another. To trace your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Amato surname noble?
The surname itself is not a sign of nobility, because it comes from a common auspicious name. Some Amato families were noble, in Naples for example, but they were specific branches.
Is there an Amato family coat of arms?
Some Amato families had a coat of arms, but it belonged to that one branch. The others, almost all of them, never had one. There is no coat of arms that belongs to all Amatos.
