Scotto

Scotto is an Italian surname. It is generally understood to be ethnonymic or toponymic in origin, deriving from the Latin Scotus or from the Italian term for a Scot, signaling an ancestral connection to Scotland or an association with Scottish origins. The form Scotto emerged in various Italian regions during the late Middle Ages and spread through internal migration and later Italian emigration.

Distribution and usage today show the surname Scotto throughout Italy, with regional variations reflecting historical patterns of settlement and mobility. It is also found among Italian diaspora communities in the Americas, including the United States, Argentina, and Brazil, where bearers have maintained the name in successive generations.

Variants and related forms include Scotti, a closely related surname, as well as other regional spellings that developed from similar ethnonymic roots. The surname Scotto is part of a broader category of ethnic or ethnonymic Italian surnames that arose from language, nationality, or place-of-origin identifiers.

Notable bearers of the surname span a range of fields, including arts, politics, and sports, reflecting the broad distribution of the name. This article does not aim to list all individuals who have borne the name Scotto but acknowledges its presence in historical and contemporary records.

See also: Scotto (disambiguation), Scotti, Scotus.