NOVELLO
Origin and etymology – The surname Novello is of Italian origin. It is derived from the Italian noun novello, which translates literally to “new” or “young” in English. As such, the name was traditionally used in a descriptive sense, identifying someone who was either the youngest member of a family, the most recently arrived individual in a community, or a person noted for a youthful appearance or manner.
In the context of Italian naming conventions, Novello belongs to a group of so‑called “kinship” names. These surnames reflect specific relationships by blood or marriage. Fucilla’s Dictionary of Italian Family Names explains that the naming custom is a result of a high gas sensitivity to blood ties in Italy, which was not a unified country until it was united in 1860. As a result, different Italian states produced their own local forms of ostensibly the same surname, accounting for the existence of multiple variants such as Novelli and Novello.
One noted early use of the surname appears in the parish records of Lesi in the province of Ancona, where a Michelantonio Novelli is recorded on 11 October 1796. Another example is the birth of Giacomo Novello in Bitonto, in the province of Bari, on 1 July 1811. These entries provide concrete evidence of the name’s presence in Italy before the nineteenth century.
The surname is most common in the northern territories of Italy, particularly in Lombardy where it ranks as the 113th most frequent surname. It is also found in Veneto and in the Piedmont region, and there is a place called Novello in Piedmont that may have contributed to the locational use of the name. Outside of Italy it is most frequently encountered in the United States, with California, New York, Florida, and New Jersey reporting the highest concentrations. The name also appears in several Latin‑American countries, including the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, though it is generally less common there than in Italy and North America.
Historical records, linguistic studies, and modern data confirm a number of orthographic variants of the surname, including Novell, Novill, Novelles, Novella, Novilla, Noeville, Novells, Novelle, Novelo, Nowill, Novele, Noevill and Nuvello. These variations arise from dialectal differences and the transliteration of Italian orthography into other languages.
Among individuals of note bearing the surname is the English composer, actor and playwright Ivor Novello, who was born in 1893 and died in 1946. His professional name, though adopted in Britain, is a direct reference to the Italian surname. His legacy is memorialised in the name of London’s The Novello Theatre, which was named in his honour following his death.
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Novello in...
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Sorry, we don't have any statistics on this name. That's probably because it's very uncommon in Britain.
Famous people named Novello
- Ivor Novello - Welsh composer and actor (1893 to 1951)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.