Romagnosi - Name

Recorded in a number of spelling forms including Romagosa, Romagnoli, and Romagnosi, this is a surname of Catalan, Italian and Spanish origins. It derives from the ancient pre 5th century Latin (Roman) word 'romegos' meaning prickly, and describes either land covered with prickly plants such as sorrel, or from various places of the same or similar original spelling, found throughout Southern Europe. Locational surnames of this type were often 'from' names. That is to say names given to people as easy identification after they left their original homesteads to move somewhere else. Spelling over the centuries being at best indifferent, and local dialects very thick, soon lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. In this case examples of the surname recording taken from early surviving church registers of Spain and Italy include Francisco Romagosa who married Maria Galsera at Reus, Tarragona, on March 9th 1698, and Mary Romagnoli who was christened at Varignane, Bologna, on February 3rd 1751.