Where the Galli surname comes from
Galli is the plural of Gallo: “the Gallo folks.” Behind it is the Latin gallus, which meant both “rooster” and “inhabitant of Gaul.” Scholars point to three paths: the Roman name Gallus, the nickname of someone who raised roosters, or a place called Gallo. In central and northern Italy the surname took the family -i; in the South it stayed singular.
Before the Romans
Before Rome, the Po Valley was the land of peoples the Romans called Gauls. Some of their cities still exist today. The PDF tells what remains of them in your surname. There you’ll also find the story of a Galli family that for a century worked in theaters across Europe.
Where the Gallis live today
Galli is a surname of central and northern Italy. There are about 15,600 families in Italy, with the heart in Lombardy and a strong presence in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. The town where it is the top surname is Cirimido, in the province of Como. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world where the Gallis settled are in the PDF.
Variants
The same name lives on in several forms, singular, plural and diminutive. The PDF shows where each one is concentrated.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Galli | Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany |
| Gallo | Piedmont, Campania, Calabria |
| Galletti | Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Lombardy |
| Gallucci | Campania, Lazio, Lombardy |
FAQ
What does the Galli surname mean?
Galli is the plural of Gallo, “the Gallo folks.” It comes from the Latin gallus, which meant “rooster” but also “inhabitant of Gaul.” It may have come from a Roman name, a nickname or a place.
Is Galli a surname from Lombardy?
Mostly. Lombardy is the region where it is most common, and in the province of Cremona it is the fourth most common surname. It is also strong in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany.
Are Galli and Gallo the same surname?
They have the same origin. Galli is the plural form of central and northern Italy, Gallo the singular form of the South and of Piedmont. Until the 1800s the same family could appear in the records in both forms.
Do the Gallis descend from the ancient Gauls?
No. The surname recalls the Celtic peoples who lived in the North before the Romans, but no family can claim to descend directly from them. The name came down through the Latin Gallus.
Are all Gallis related?
No. The surname was born in different ways and in many towns: two Galli families almost never have any connection. To rebuild your own family history you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Galli surname noble?
The surname itself doesn’t mean nobility. The archives record a few noble Galli families, for example in Rome. Nearly all Galli families, though, never had a coat of arms.
Is there a Galli family coat of arms?
There is no single coat of arms for all Gallis. Individual branches had one, like a noble family in Rome with a golden rooster, but it was theirs, not everyone’s.
