Genova

Family name origins & meanings

• Italian : habitational name from Genoa (Italian Genova) in Liguria, which during the Middle Ages was one of the great seaports of the Mediterranean and a flourishing mercantile and financial center. The origin of the name of the city is uncertain. It has been associated with Latin janua ‘door’, but is more probably of pre-Roman origin. The surname in its various forms is distributed throughout southern Italy, Genova and Genovese being particularly common in Calabria and Sicily.