Where the Borgia surname comes from
Borgia means “of Borja,” a town in Aragon near Zaragoza. According to one theory, the town’s name comes from the Arabic burj, “tower.” The family that took its name from the town was among the noblest in Aragon by the 1400s. The PDF explains why the surname is spelled with a “g” in Italian.
Two popes and a legend
In the 1400s the family reached Rome and gave the Church two popes, uncle and nephew. About the second pope’s children, Lucrezia and Cesare, people tell stories of poison and murder. Some of it is true, much of it was blown up by their enemies. The PDF tells what is history and what is reputation.
Where the Borgias live today
Borgia is spread all over Italy: there are about 1,700 families. The largest groups are in Lazio and Apulia, followed by Sicily and Calabria. The record, though, is in the Marche: in Carpegna, in the Montefeltro area, Borgia is the town’s third most common surname. Bearing this surname doesn’t mean descending from the popes, because many families have stories of their own. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world they reached are in the PDF.
Variants
In Italy the surname has practically only one form. The Spanish form is very rare here, and the PDF explains why the opposite is true in the rest of the world.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Borgia | Lazio, Apulia, Sicily |
| Borja | Lombardy, Lazio, Liguria |
FAQ
What does the Borgia surname mean?
It means “of Borja,” a town in Aragon near Zaragoza. According to one theory, the town’s name comes from the Arabic burj, “tower.”
Is Borgia a Spanish surname?
Originally, yes: it comes from a Spanish town, and the popes’ family reached Italy in the 1400s. Today, though, Italy has Borgia families with stories of their own, in Lazio, Apulia and Sicily.
Are Borgia and Borja the same surname?
Yes: Borja is the Spanish form, Borgia the Italian one. In old documents the same name appears as Borja, de Borja or Borgia. In Italy there are barely twenty Borja families.
Do today’s Borgias descend from the popes?
Almost never. Some Italian Borgias come from Spanish families with no ties to the popes, others have stories of their own. To trace your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the town of Borgia in Calabria named after the family?
Yes. At the end of the 1400s the land, near Catanzaro, was granted as a fief to the Borgias and took their name.
Is the Borgia surname noble?
The popes’ family was among the noblest in Aragon. Most of today’s Borgias, however, don’t descend from that family. Only documents can tell which branch a family comes from.
Is there a Borgia family coat of arms?
The coat of arms with the bull belonged to the popes’ family; a Borgia family in Rome and a Sicilian branch had others. Each one belonged to that branch. There is no coat of arms that belongs to all the Borgias.
