Where the Costanza surname comes from
Costanza comes from the Latin constantia, steadfastness, perseverance. The same word gave rise to personal names like Costanzo, Costantino and Costanza: the son or grandson of someone with that name became “the one of Costanza,” and the name stayed with the whole family.
A surname that remembers a mother?
In Italian, Costanza is mostly a woman’s name: if the surname comes from there, it would be one of the rare surnames that recall the mother instead of the father. The PDF tells why that happened, and why in Sicily that name carried a special prestige, along with the story of the three queens named Constance.
Where the Costanzas live today
Costanza is a Sicilian surname, from the provinces of Agrigento and Palermo in particular, with about 1,250 families in Italy. The town where it’s strongest is Cefalà Diana, in the hills inland from Palermo, where it’s the second most common surname. Outside Italy the striking figure is the United States, where the surname also became famous thanks to a TV character. The map and the countries are in the PDF.
Variants
Costanzo and Costantino come from the same Latin root: the PDF explains where each one comes from.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Costanza | Sicily |
| Costanzo | Campania, Sicily |
| Costantino | Sicily, Calabria, Piedmont |
FAQ
What does the surname Costanza mean?
It comes from the Latin constantia, steadfastness, perseverance. It was born from the personal name Costanza, perhaps a mother’s.
Is Costanza a Sicilian surname?
Yes, especially in the provinces of Agrigento and Palermo. More than a third of all the world’s Costanzas live in the United States.
Where does George Costanza’s surname come from?
The character from “Seinfeld” got his surname from a real friend of Jerry Seinfeld’s, Mike Costanza. More than a third of the world’s Costanzas live in the United States.
Are Costanza and Costanzo the same surname?
They share the same Latin root, constans. Costanzo comes from the male name and is far more common; Costanza perhaps from a mother’s name, and it’s almost entirely Sicilian.
Is there a Costanza family coat of arms?
There is no coat of arms for the surname, and the heraldic archives we consulted show no coat of arms of any Sicilian Costanza family. The arms of the queens named Constance are those of their royal houses.
Why is Costanza both a woman’s name and a surname?
The surname comes from personal names of the same Latin family: Costanza, Costanzo, Costantino. The son or grandson of someone with that name became “the one of Costanza,” and the name stayed with the whole family. If the founder was a woman, it’s one of the rare surnames that recall the mother.
Are all Costanzas related?
No. The surname was born in different families, in different towns, and has no single founder. To trace your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Costanza surname noble?
The surname itself doesn’t indicate nobility. The three queens of Sicily named Constance didn’t give the surname to any family: the surname comes from ordinary people.
