Where the Fantozzi surname comes from
Fantozzi comes from the medieval name Fante, or Fantino, which grew out of the Latin infans, “child, boy.” The Fantozzi were “Fante’s folks,” the family of a man by that name. It’s a patronymic surname, born from the name of the founder of the line. The PDF tells how the word fante changed meaning over the centuries.
Long before the accountant
Today everyone thinks of Paolo Villaggio’s hapless accountant, Ugo. But the surname existed centuries before the movies, and even the character has a real origin: one of Villaggio’s office coworkers in Genoa. Then there’s a basketball star a town named its arena after, in a way that rarely happens. These stories are in the PDF.
Where the Fantozzi live today
Fantozzi is a surname of Central Italy. There are about 1,550 families, and the regions where it’s most common are Tuscany and Lazio, tied. Next come Abruzzo and Emilia-Romagna. In Tuscany its center is the Livorno area. In Lazio there’s the town where it ranks number one: Priverno, in the province of Latina. About one Fantozzi in four lives outside Italy. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world they reached are in the PDF.
Variants
The same little Fante took a different form in Tuscany, in Emilia and in the Northeast. The PDF explains where each one comes from.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Fantozzi | Tuscany, Lazio, Abruzzo |
| Fantuzzi | Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Friuli |
| Fantuz | Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lombardy |
FAQ
What does the surname Fantozzi mean?
It comes from the medieval name Fante, from the Latin infans, “child, boy.” The Fantozzi were “Fante’s folks,” the family of a man by that name.
Is Fantozzi a Tuscan surname?
Yes, and it’s from Lazio too: Tuscany and Lazio are tied. In Tuscany its center is the Livorno area; in Lazio it’s Priverno, where Fantozzi is the most common surname in town. Next come Abruzzo and Emilia-Romagna.
Does the Fantozzi surname come from Paolo Villaggio’s character?
It’s the other way around: the surname had existed for centuries. Villaggio had an office coworker actually named Fantozzi. That’s where Ugo the accountant came from, the hero of the first book in 1971.
Are Fantozzi and Fantuzzi the same surname?
They share the same root, the name Fante. Fantuzzi is the Emilian form, with a “u” in place of the “o”; Fantuz is the Venetian and Friulian form. In old registers the same family can appear as Fantozzi or Fantuzzi.
Are all Fantozzi related?
No. The name Fante was common in many regions and every Fante could start a family. To trace your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Fantozzi surname noble?
The surname itself doesn’t indicate nobility: it comes from the name of an ordinary man, the fante, that is, the boy. Almost all Fantozzi families never had a coat of arms.
Is there a Fantozzi family coat of arms?
One Fantozzi family from Siena had its own coat of arms, a family from Pescia had another. Each belonged to that branch. No single coat of arms belongs to every Fantozzi.
