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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Italian : habitational name from various places named Malaspina, from malus (feminine mala) ‘bad’ + spina ‘thorn’.
  • The Malaspina family were powerful in eastern Liguria and parts of Tuscany and Lombardy during the Middle Ages. In 1306 Franceschino Malespina offered refuge to the poet Dante during his exile.

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