Greca is a surname of Italian origin, denoting someone of Greek descent. It may also be a female

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

in Italian, also known in its feminine variant of ''Grecia'' and its male variant of '' Greco''.Emidio De Felice, ''Dizionario dei nomi italiani'', Milano, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 2000, p 200Enzo La Stella T., ''Santi e fanti - Dizionario dei nomi di persona'', Roma, Zanichelli, 2009, p 183 All three words derive from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

'Graeca' or 'Graecus', which operated as an

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

for someone of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

ethnicity, or a

demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...

for someone born in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. During the medieval era this was expanded to citizens of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

Semantically Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction between sense and reference ...

it is similar to the given name Elladio. In the modern era it is most commonly used in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

and more specifically in the Sardinian province of

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

due to its cult of Saint Greca. It is also used in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

and

Emilia-Romagna Emilia-Romagna (, , both , ; or ; ) is an Regions of Italy, administrative region of northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia (region), Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of , and a population of 4.4 m ...

. __NOTOC__

Notable people

Surname

* Bedri Greca (born 1990), Albanian footballer *

Rafael Greca Rafael Valdomiro Greca de Macedo (born 17 March 1956) is a Brazilian engineer and politician, and former mayor of Curitiba. He was minister of sport and tourism (1999–2000), state deputy (2003–06) and federal deputy from Paraná (state), P ...

(born 1956), Brazilian engineer and politician

Given name

* Saint Greca (284–304), Christian saint

References

{{given name, type=both Italian feminine given names Feminine given names