Show ContentsCorti History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Early Origins of the Corti family

The surname Corti was first found in the several places named "Corte," in Italy. The Italian word corte means "court," as in a manorial court. The surname can be traced back to the year 1123, when members of the Corte family lived in Salerno.

Early History of the Corti family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Corti research. The years 1308, 1470, 1480, 1529, 1570 and 1666 are included under the topic Early Corti History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Corti Spelling Variations

Italian surnames come in far more variations than the names of most other nationalities. Regional traditions and dialects are a decisive factor in this characteristic. For example, northern names tend to end in "o", while southern in "i". Also important, but not unique to Italy, was the fact that before dictionaries and the printing press most scribes simply spelled words according to their sounds. The predictable result was an enormous number of spelling variations. The recorded spellings of Corti include Corte, Corti, Da Corte, Dalla Corte, Della Corte, La Corte, Cortella, Cortello, Cortelli, Cortelletti, Cortellino, Cortellini, Corticelli, Cortini, Cortese, Cortesi, Corteggiano, Cortigiani, Cortesano and many more.

Early Notables of the Corti family

Prominent among bearers of this surname in early times was Tolomeo dei Cortesi, who was from one of the most ancient families in Cremona. He was a lawyer and in 1308 was elected mayor of Perugia. Paolo Cortesi of Rome was a famous author around 1470; Gregorio Cortese was an ecclesiastic in Modena around 1480; Alberto Cortese, born in Modena in the 15th century, was...
Another 65 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Corti Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Corti Ranking

In France, the name Corti is the 9,188th most popular surname with an estimated 500 - 1,000 people with that name. [1]

Migration of the Corti family

An examination of many early immigration records reveals that people bearing the name Corti arrived in North America very early: Agata Lacorte, aged 26, who arrived at Ellis Island from Castronovo, Sicily, in 1914; Antonino LaCorte, aged 57, who arrived at Ellis Island from Palermo, Sicily, Italy, in 1919.


Contemporary Notables of the name Corti (post 1700) +

  • Jesse Corti (b. 1955), American voice actor
  • Renato Corti (1936-2020), Italian cardinal and prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, Bishop of Novara from 1990 to 2011
  • Eugenio Corti (1921-2014), Italian novelist, best known for his 1,000 page novel The Red Horse based on his experiences and his fellow Italians during and after the World War II
  • Claudio Corti, Italian mountaineer
  • Alfonso Giacomo Gaspare Corti (1822-1876), Italian anatomist
  • Axel Corti (1933-1993), Austrian writer and film director
  • Antonio Corti (b. 1963), Argentine boxer


  1. http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/


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