Find out how popular the last name Villani is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Villani.

Villani, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Villani surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Villani in America

Villani is the 10512th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Villani surname appeared 3,053 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Villani.

We can also compare 2010 data for Villani to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Villani

The surname VILLANI originated in Italy during the medieval period. It is derived from the Italian word "villano," which means "villager" or "peasant." The name likely referred to someone who lived in a village or worked as a peasant farmer.

One of the earliest known records of the VILLANI name dates back to the 13th century, when Giovanni Villani, a famous Italian chronicler and historian, was born in Florence around 1280. He is best known for his "Nuova Cronica," a historical account of Florence and its surrounding regions.

Another notable VILLANI was Matteo Villani, who lived in the 14th century and was the brother of Giovanni Villani. He continued his brother's work on the "Nuova Cronica" after Giovanni's death in 1348.

In the 15th century, the VILLANI name appeared in records from the town of Siena, where a family of artists and architects flourished. The most famous member of this family was Francesco di Giorgio Martini Villani, an architect and engineer who was born in Siena around 1439 and died in 1501.

The VILLANI surname was also found in other parts of Italy, such as Naples and Venice. In Venice, a notable VILLANI was Girolamo Villani, a composer and organist who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Another prominent figure with the VILLANI surname was Guglielmo Villani, an Italian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 17th century. He was born in Arezzo around 1620 and made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics.

While the VILLANI name has Italian roots, it has also been adopted by families in other countries, likely due to immigration and cultural exchange. However, the earliest and most prominent examples of the surname can be traced back to medieval and Renaissance Italy.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Villani

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Villani.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Villani was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Villani has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Villani was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Villani, please contact us.

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