Where the Montana surname comes from
Montana comes from the Latin mons, montis, the mountain. It was the nickname of someone who came down to town from the mountains: a highlander, a shepherd, a woodcutter. Or it marked someone from one of the many places in Italy with monte in their name.
There were mountains and mountain folk everywhere. That is why the surname was born in many different places, with no common founder.
From Alcamo to Brooklyn
In 1904 a Montana family left Alcamo for the United States. One of the sons, still a boy, studied art at night in New York. He became a sculptor and won the competition for the Brooklyn war memorial. His story is in the PDF, along with that of the American state that shares the surname’s name, for a different reason.
Where the Montana families live today
Montana is above all a Sicilian surname. There are about 1,800 families in Italy, with the strongest branch in the province of Agrigento, where it is the 39th most common surname. It is also found in Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Campania and Liguria, where a small village counts it among its top surnames. Outside Italy the numbers need careful reading, because there is also a Spanish surname that was born independently. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world the Montanas reached are in the PDF.
Variants
The same word gave rise to several surnames, each one strong in its own region. The PDF explains which form belongs to which area.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Montanari | Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy |
| Montanaro | Apulia, Piedmont, Campania |
| Montana | Sicily, Lombardy, Piedmont |
| Montani | Lombardy, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna |
| Montano | Campania, Basilicata |
FAQ
What does the surname Montana mean?
It means “of the mountain.” It comes from the Latin mons, the mountain, and referred to someone who came down from the mountains or who came from a place with “monte” in its name.
Is Montana a Sicilian surname?
Mostly, yes: the strongest branch is in the province of Agrigento. But the surname was also born elsewhere, and there are Montana families in Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Campania and Liguria.
Are Montana and Montano the same surname?
They come from the same word, the mountain. Montano is the form of Campania and Basilicata. Until the 1800s the surname was written by whoever kept the register: if you are searching for your ancestors, try the similar forms too.
Does the state of Montana have anything to do with the surname?
No. The name of the American state comes from the Spanish montaña, “mountain.” The Latin root is the same as the surname’s, but the two words took different roads.
Is Joe Montana of Italian descent?
Yes. According to his biographies, his family’s surname was originally Montani, from the Val Camonica, and became Montana in America.
Are all Montanas related?
No. The surname was born in many different places, with no common founder: a Sicilian Montana and a Ligurian one are most likely not related. To trace your own family’s story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is there a Montana family coat of arms?
A coat of arms belonged to one specific family, in a specific town and century. The surname was born among shepherds and mountain folk who almost never had one. No single coat of arms belongs to every Montana.
