Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Italian : nickname for an unruly or uncouth person, from selvaggio, earlier salvaggio, ‘wild’, ‘savage’, or an occupational or status name for someone who lived and worked in the woods, isolated from urban or village life, from a Late Latin derivative of Latin silva ‘wood’, influenced by Latin salvus ‘whole’, i.e. ‘natural’.

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe