| Meaning | Topographic — from the village of Arpaia in the province of Benevento, Campania |
| Origin type | Topographic / place name |
| Popularity | Relatively uncommon; concentrated in Campania and Italian-American communities |
| Regions | Benevento, Naples, Campania; New York, New Jersey |
| Variants | D'Arpaia, Arpaio |
| Notable bearers | Joe Arpaio (variant spelling; American public figure of Italian descent) |
Arpaia is a topographic surname derived from the village of Arpaia, a small comune in the province of Benevento in the Campania region of southern Italy. Topographic surnames of this type — where a family takes its name from the village or locality of its origin — are among the most ancient Italian surname types. When families moved from their home village to a neighbouring town or city, they carried the village name with them as their identifier.
The village of Arpaia itself sits in the Caudine valley, historically significant as the site of the Battle of the Caudine Forks (321 BC), where the Samnite people defeated a Roman army — one of Rome's most humiliating defeats in the wars of Italian unification. The Samnite culture of Benevento and its hinterland was ancient and deeply rooted, and the region remained culturally distinct within the broader Campanian world throughout the medieval period.
The Norman conquest of southern Italy in the eleventh century brought the area under Norman rule — the kingdom centred first on Palermo and later on Naples — and the Benevento region was integrated into the kingdom. The surname Arpaia would have crystallised as a hereditary form in this medieval period, carried by families who identified themselves with their village of origin.
In the great southern Italian emigration of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Arpaia families from Campania joined the stream of emigrants heading to America. The Naples region was one of the primary departure points for Italian emigration, and Campanian families — including those from the Benevento province — settled primarily in the New York metropolitan area and in New Jersey.
The Arpaia community in America is concentrated in the New York and New Jersey Italian-American communities — the same communities that absorbed millions of southern Italian emigrants between 1880 and 1924. The name is uncommon enough that most American Arpaias likely share a relatively close common ancestry from the Benevento region.
A daily newsletter delivering the people, places, and flavours of Italy to readers worldwide. For those with Italian heritage — or simply a love of Italy — it is essential reading.
Subscribe Free to Love Italy