De Fazio is one of the characteristic southern Italian patronymic surnames built from the given name Fazio, itself a compressed form of Bonifacio (Boniface — "good fate"). The name is associated primarily with Calabria, where De Fazio families have been recorded since the 16th century in the provinces of Reggio Calabria and Catanzaro.
The great Calabrian emigration of 1880–1920 brought De Fazio families to the United States, Canada, and Argentina. In America, the name is common in the Italian-American communities of New York, New Jersey, and Chicago. The apostrophe is often dropped in American records, giving Defazio or DeFazio.
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