The Italian surname Girardi is derived from the medieval name Girardus ou Giarhard, which in turn comes from the Germanic terms gaira, which means “spear” or “javelin”, and hardhu, which means “boldness”.
This is a family name that belongs to a patriarch who had that first name, with traces, for example, in the Diplomatic Code of medieval Lombardy, in the year 1100.
The surname can also be found in documents as early as 1300 in all in the province of Savona , where a certain Gullielmus Girardus is cited.
Popularity of the Girardi
Girardi is a very common surname in northern Italy, but it also has roots in regions such as campania, Puglia e Basilicata.
The much rarer Girardo variant can be found in Piedmont, Veneto, campania e Puglia.
Other variants of this surname are Girardini, Girardino, Girardetti, Girardin and Girardoni.
Presence
According to the website Cognomix, there are approximately 3671 Girardi families in Italy, with the majority found in the Veneto regions (1287), Trentino-Alto Adige (496) and Lombardy (447).
The Girardi surname is the 13th most common in the Trentino-Alto Adige region, the 11th most found in province of Trento and the most popular in the city of Limone sul Garda, in the province of Brescia, Lombardy region.
Nobility
Some records indicate that part of the Giradi family held titles of nobility in Middle Ages.
The family Girardi von Castell, originally from Mori, in Trent, claims to have been part of the nobility since 1511, but only in 1580 was the coat of arms granted by the Archduke of Austria, Tirol, to the brothers Anton Pedro and Ludwig Girardi with the predicate “von Castell”.
The old one Girardi family of Venice spread rapidly over the centuries, in different regions of the Italy.
Biographies
Among the personalities with this surname is the Brazilian Catholic bishop Agenor Girardi (1952–2018). Born in the city of Orleans, in Santa Catarina, he studied philosophy at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) of Campinas and Theology at Our Lady of the Assumption Faculty of Theology, in Sao Paulo.
He was appointed in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI as auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Porto Alegre-RS and, in 2016, the Pope Francis appointed him as Diocesan Bishop of União da Vitória, in Paraná.
He died on February 8, 2018, in Victory union, aged 66, after an infectious process that led to multiple organ failure.
Best known members of the Girardi family
Another well-known member of the family is the journalist Giuliana Girardi, who was born in São José do Rio Preto and graduated in journalism at Methodist University of PiracicabaIn 1998.
She started her career in Rio Preto at TV Progresso, which later became TV Tem and currently works at TV Globo, where he reports on Fantastic program.
Finally, another personality with the surname is the Brazilian lawyer and politician Jair Girardi (1950-2017), which was state deputy in Santa Catarina between the years 1983 and 1987.
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