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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Italian : from testa ‘head’ (Late Latin testa, originally used to denote an earthenware pot); hence a nickname for someone who was exceptionally learned or intelligent or for someone who had a large or otherwise remarkable head.
  • Galician and Portuguese : possibly a nickname from Galician and Portuguese testa ‘forehead’, ‘brow’.

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