D'Antonio

History & Origin

D'Antonio is a patronymic surname — that is, a surname derived from the father's given name — formed from the preposition di (of, from) and the name Antonio. In Italian naming convention, the di/d' prefix carries the sense of descent: "of the Antonio family" or "son of Antonio." This is one of the most ancient and widespread surname-formation patterns in Italy, paralleling the Irish Mac- (son of), the Scottish Mc-, and the English -son suffix.

The name Antonio itself derives from the Roman family name Antonius — one of the great patrician gentes of ancient Rome. The name gained Christian significance through St Anthony of Padua (1195–1231), the Franciscan friar born in Lisbon who spent much of his ministry in northern Italy and whose cult became one of the most popular in the Catholic world. The name Antonio became extremely common throughout Italy following his canonisation, which is why D'Antonio, Di Antonio, and variant forms are found across the peninsula.

In southern Italy — Calabria, Campania, and Apulia — the patronymic form D'Antonio is particularly common, reflecting the naming conventions of these regions where Latinised patronymics with the d' prefix crystallised as hereditary surnames in the medieval and early modern period. The name is distinguished from the straight Antonio surname (which may indicate a family named after the saint directly) by the patronymic construction that explicitly identifies the family as descendants of an individual named Antonio.

In the great southern Italian emigration, D'Antonio families from Calabria, Campania, and Apulia joined the millions who crossed the Atlantic between 1880 and 1924. The name appears throughout the Italian-American communities of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Spelling Variants

• De Antonio
• DiAntonio
• D'Antone
• Di Antonio
• Dantonio