Esposito is an Italian surname. It ranks the fourth most common surname in Italy. It is especially common in Campania in general and in Naples in particular.

Etymology and history

This surname is thought to derive from Latin expositus (Italian esposto, Old Italian or dialect esposito), the past participle of the Latin verb exponere 'to place outside, to expose', and so literally means 'placed outside, exposed'. In Italian, the stress is on the antepenultimate syllable ; however, English speakers often pronounce it, with the stress on the penultimate. Italian tradition claims that the surname was given to foundlings who were abandoned or placed for adoption and handed over to an orphanage (an Ospizio degli esposti lit. 'home or hospice of the exposed'). They were called espositi because they would be abandoned and "exposed" in a public place. Some orphanages maintained a ruota degli esposti 'wheel of the exposed' where abandoned children could be left. In the 19th century, laws were introduced forbidding the practice of giving surnames that reflected a child's origins. A crude meaning is bastard or out of wedlock child. As a surname, Esposito has produced, or is related to, a number of variants throughout modern Italy, such as D'Esposito, Degli Esposti, Esposti, Esposto, Sposito, etc. Other variants are also found in the Spanish-speaking world, for example Expósito.

Notable people