Where the Parisi surname comes from
For Parisi, scholars point to three roads. The first leads to Paris: the surname marked someone who came from France or had a tie to it. The second goes back to the Parisii, the Celtic people who gave the city its name. The third leads to myth, to Paris, the Trojan prince.
The three roads don’t rule each other out, and no record says which one holds for a single family.
Why so many Parisis in the South
A surname that looks to Paris is extremely common in the South, and in Sicily more than anywhere else. The most likely answer lies in the history of the Kingdom and in the people who came there from France. The PDF tells how it went.
Where the Parisis live today
Parisi is found all over Italy, but its heart is in the South: there are about 11,900 families. The largest group lives in Sicily, followed by Campania and Apulia. The town where it is number one is Pace del Mela, on the Tyrrhenian coast between Milazzo and Messina. In the North you’ll find it mostly in Lombardy and Piedmont, and outside Italy in the United States. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world where they settled are in the PDF.
Variants
The surname took different forms in the North and the South, including a diminutive from Lazio. The PDF tells where each one settled.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Parisi | Sicily, Campania, Apulia |
| Parise | Veneto, Calabria, Lombardy |
| Parisella | Lazio |
| Parisini | Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Lombardy |
| Parisio | Lombardy, Piedmont, Campania |
FAQ
What does the surname Parisi mean?
Its origin is debated. It may mark someone who came from Paris or had ties to France. Or it may recall the Celtic Parisii people, or Paris, the Trojan prince.
Is Parisi a Sicilian surname?
It is found all over Italy, but the largest group lives in Sicily, especially in the province of Messina. Campania and Apulia come next.
Are Parisi and Parise the same surname?
They are forms of the same word. Parise has two far-apart homes, Veneto and Calabria. In old records the same family may appear under different forms, so it’s worth searching for all of them.
Where does the name of Paris come from?
From the Parisii, a Celtic tribe that lived on the banks of the Seine. The Romans called their town Lutetia Parisiorum, “Lutetia of the Parisii.” Over time the name of the people replaced the name of the town.
Are all Parisis related?
No. A surname this common was born in many places, almost always among ordinary people. To rebuild your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Parisi surname noble?
There was a noble Parisi family, also called Parisio. But the great majority of today’s Parisis come from families of farmers, craftsmen, fishermen and soldiers.
Is there a Parisi family coat of arms?
The noble Parisi family known as Parisio had a coat of arms, but it was theirs alone. No single coat of arms belongs to every Parisi.
