Most Popular Italian Surnames — Moretti

Number 18 Italian Surname Moretti

Number 18 on the list of most popular Italian Surnames — Moretti. It’s hard to tell which of the name origins is correct. Some sites list it as coming from the first name Mauro, some say dark hair and some say dark skin. It’s quite possible that all of these origins are correct depending on the people and geographical location. I could not find any verifiable COA for anyone named Moretti, so I used the next best thing!

Moretti History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name Moretti is a patronymicsurname, created from the personal nameMauro, which is itself derived from the Latin name Maurus. Patronymicsurnames were created from the name of the bearer’s father or relative, and gradually during the Middle Ages, these names became fixed hereditary surnames.

Early Origins of the Moretti family

The surname Moretti was first found in Modena (Etruscan: Mutna; Latin: Mutina; Modenese: Mòdna), around the year 1179.

Early History of the Moretti family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Moretti research.
Another 30 words (2 lines of text) covering the years 1050, 1375, 1639, 1636, 1677 and 1735 are included under the topic Early Moretti History in all our PDF Extended History productsand printed products wherever possible.

Moretti Spelling Variations

Italian surnames have a surprising number of forms in comparison with other European surnames because they reflect the regional variations and the many dialects of the Italian language, each of which has its distinctive features. For example, in Northern Italy the most standard Italian surname suffix is “I”, whereas in Southern Italy the most typical surname suffix is “O”. Sardinian is very different from other forms of Italian and in fact, it is considered to be its own distinct language. Additionally, spelling changes frequently occurred because medieval scribes, church officials, and the bearers of names, spelled names as they sounded rather than according to any specific spelling rules. As a consequence of the major changes in the Italian language and in the localspellings of Italian surnames that occurred over the course of history, there are numerous variations for the surname Moretti. These spelling variationsinclude Moro, Moras, Morasco, Morassi, Morasso, Morassut, Morassutti, Moratelli, Morati, Moratti, Moratto, Morazzi, Morero, Moreschi, Moraschi, Moresi, Moret, Moretti, Moretto, Morin, Morini, Morino, Moriotti, Moriotto, Morozzi, Morisco, Moresco, Morisi, Mori, Morimanno, Moroni, Morucchio, Morucci and many more.

From the House of Names

The Moretti surname is a Jewish Italian name. It is derived from the Italian word Moretto meaning dark hair and the Yiddish word Mordeven Zich meaning worker (or in some cases overwork). The name originated in the 1500s by Jewish immigrants to Italy who wanted to fit in to the brand new culture they were entering. While choosing a surname, they took Italian words and combined them with yiddish or traditional Jewish words or names. In this particular case, the words combined were supposed to mean dark skinned worker, but the Jewish immigrants did not have a full understanding of Italian at the time and the Italian word that makes up part of the name actually translates to dark haired, a simple mistake made by a lack of knowledge of the Italian language. When both the Yiddish and Italian words are put together to form Moretti it translates dark haired worker Some of these names are: Mordoue, Mordoy, Moret, Morita, Moritt, Moriyada, Moriyadi, Morretti (Moretti), etc. During this time period, the enlightenment was spreading through Italy and Europe and many of the jews in Italy were converted. Even though many Jews were converted, their names carry down the ties to Judaism that were once prevalent among a group of people. To this day Genealogists can find the ties to Judaism through many names including Moretti.

From Familypedia

- People
  - Alessandra Moretti(born 1973), Italian politician
  - Amy Schwartz Moretti, American violinist
  - Bob Moretti(1936–1984), Californian politician
  - Bruno Moretti(born 1957), Italian composer and frequent collaborator with choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti
  - Bruno Moretti (Paralympian), Australian Paralympian
  - Cristina Favre-Moretti(born 1963), Swiss ski mountaineer, long-distance runner and mountain biker
  - Cristoforo Moretti, Lombard painter of the quattrocento
  - David Moretti(born 1981), American actor
  - Davide Moretti(born 1998), Italian basketball player
  - Emiliano Moretti(born 1981), Italian footballer
  - Enrico Moretti, Italian-born American economist
  - Fabrizio Moretti (art dealer)(born 1976), Italian art dealer
  - Fabrizio Moretti(born 1980), Brazilian-born drummer in American band The Strokes
  - Filomena Moretti(born 1973), Italian classical guitarist
  - Franco Moretti(born 1950), Italian literary scholar
  - Frank Moretti(1943–2013), professor at Columbia University
  - Giampiero Moretti(1940–2012), Italian racing driver
  - Giuseppe Moretti (botanist)(1782–1853), Italian botanist
  - Giuseppe Moretti(1857–1935), Italian sculptor
  - Isabelle Moretti(born 1964), French harpist
  - Joe Moretti(1938–2012), Scottish guitarist
  - Isabella Crettenand-Moretti(born 1963), Swiss ski mountaineer, marathon mountain biker, long-distance and mountain runner
  - Lisa Mary Moretti, (born 1961), American wrestler, known as “Ivory”
  - Luigi Moretti(1907–1973), Italian architect
  - Marino Moretti(1885–1979), Italian poet and author
  - Mario Moretti(born 1946), Italian terrorist
  - Michèle Moretti(born 1940), French actress
  - Nanni Moretti(born 1953), Italian film director, producer and actor
  - Raoul Moretti(born 1933), a French composer of film scores
  - Riccardo Moretti(born 1985), Italian motorcycle racer
  - Tobias Moretti(born 1959), Austrian actor
  - Willie Moretti(1894–1951), Italian-American mafia underboss
From Wikipedia