Where the Puglisi surname comes from
Puglisi means “the Apulian,” said the Sicilian way. In the Middle Ages, anyone who arrived in a town from elsewhere was called by the name of his homeland. In Sicilian people said pugghisi, and notaries and parish priests wrote it down as Puglisi.
The name of Apulia comes from the Latin Apulia, the “land of the Apuli.” So the surname carries with it the name of a people two thousand years old. The PDF tells why so many Apulians settled in Sicily.
A name from five hundred years ago
The first traces of the surname go back to the 1500s, in a small-town workshop. The story reaches all the way to a priest from Palermo whom the Church has declared blessed. In between are families of every station, on both sides of the Strait of Messina. Their stories are in the PDF.
Where the Puglisis live today
Puglisi is almost entirely a Sicilian surname. There are about 4,500 families in Italy, and on the island it is among the most common surnames, especially in the province of Messina. The town where it is number one is Francavilla di Sicilia, in the Alcantara valley. Outside Sicily you’ll find it wherever Sicilians emigrated in the 1900s, starting with Lombardy and Lazio. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world where they settled are in the PDF.
Variants
The same nickname lives on in three forms, an Italian one and a Sicilian one, plus a plural. The PDF explains where each one is concentrated.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Puglisi | Sicily, Lombardy, Lazio |
| Pugliese | Calabria, Apulia, Campania |
| Pugliesi | Lazio, Tuscany, Sicily |
FAQ
What does the surname Puglisi mean?
“The Apulian,” in its Sicilian form. It was the nickname given to people who came to Sicily from Apulia, then passed down to their children until it became a surname.
Is Puglisi a Sicilian surname?
Yes. It lives almost only in Sicily, where it is among the most common surnames on the island. The families in the North and in Lazio arrived with the emigration of the 1900s.
Are Puglisi and Pugliese the same surname?
Yes, in two languages. Pugliese is the Italian form, common in Calabria, Apulia and Campania. Puglisi is the Sicilian one. In old records the same family may appear in both forms.
Are all Puglisis related?
No. In many Sicilian towns someone was called “the Apulian,” and each time it was a different person. To rebuild your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Puglisi surname noble?
The surname itself doesn’t mean nobility. It comes from a nickname for where someone came from, and it was carried by families of every station, from craftsmen to farmers. Some branches held noble titles, but those titles concerned only them.
Is there a Puglisi family coat of arms?
Some Puglisi families had a coat of arms, but it belonged to that specific branch. Almost no Puglisi family ever had one. No single coat of arms belongs to every Puglisi.
Where did the first Puglisis come from?
In all likelihood from Apulia. For centuries Apulia and Sicily had the same kings, and merchants, sailors and craftsmen often moved from one land to the other.
