Family name origins & meanings
- Italian : from the personal name Bontempo, meaning literally ‘good time’, i.e. ‘it was a good time, an auspicious moment, when you were born’, from Old Italian bono ‘good’ + tempo ‘time’ (Latin tempus ‘time’, ‘weather’, ‘season’). This was a name bestowed as an expression of gratitude for the birth of a much wanted child.