Where the Noto surname comes from
Noto is a place surname: it comes from the city of Noto, in southeastern Sicily, in the province of Syracuse. Whoever left it became, to the new neighbors, “the one from Noto.” Then the nickname stayed with the children. For some families there is also another, rarer road: the trade of notary.
A city never conquered
Ancient Noto stood on a mountain protected by deep gorges, and no army ever managed to take it. It was the earth itself that leveled it, in a single day. The PDF tells how the people of Noto rebuilt their city somewhere else, and how it became a capital of the Baroque.
Where the Noto families live today
Noto is an almost entirely Sicilian surname, with about 2,900 families in Italy. Its heart is in the center of the island and in Palermo, more than around Syracuse: it is the 26th most common surname in the province of Caltanissetta. The town where it is strongest is Limina, in the Peloritani mountains, where it is the third most common surname. There is also a line in Calabria and around Naples. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world they reached are in the PDF.
Variants
Alongside Noto there is the form with the preposition, which says the same thing even more clearly. The PDF also covers two related surnames that follow the other road, the notary’s.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Noto | Sicily, Lombardy, Lazio |
| Di Noto | Sicily |
| Notaro | Campania, Sicily, Apulia |
| Notari | Emilia-Romagna, Campania, Lombardy |
FAQ
What does the surname Noto mean?
It means “the one who came from Noto,” the city in the province of Syracuse. For some families it may come instead from the trade of notary, but that is a rarer theory.
Is Noto a Sicilian surname?
Yes, almost entirely. It is more common in the center of the island and in Palermo than around Syracuse, because the surname was born among people who had left Noto. There is also a line in Calabria and around Naples.
Are Noto and Di Noto the same surname?
Yes, they have the same origin: Di Noto means “from Noto” and is almost only Sicilian. In the records of the same family the surname may appear with “Di” and without, so it is worth searching both forms.
Are all Notos related?
No. The surname was born among many different people who had left Noto. Sharing a surname doesn’t mean being related: to trace your own family’s story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Noto surname noble?
The surname itself doesn’t indicate nobility. In Sicily there was a noble Noto family, barons and later dukes of Petraro, with branches in Palermo, Messina and Monterosso. Most other Noto families never even had a coat of arms.
Is there a Noto family coat of arms?
Heraldic archives record the coat of arms of that noble Noto family of Sicily, which belonged only to that branch. No single coat of arms belongs to every Noto. And the coat of arms of the city of Noto belongs to the town, not to those who bear its name.
