The Italian surname Sena has its origins linked to a saint of the Catholic church, the saint Catherine of Siena, who lived between 1347 and 1380 in the region of Toscana, central part of the country.
According to historical records, this family name may have a purely religious origin, that is, it may have been simply inspired by Saint Catherine, a philosopher from the 14st century canonized in 1461, or also toponymic origin.
In the second case, in which the origin of the family name comes from the name of a location, the surname would have been inspired by the city of Siena, precisely the city where the catholic saint Born in the Tuscany region.
History tells that the city was founded by Senio, son of Remus, one of the legendary founders of Roma.
Senna Provinces
Another theory suggests that the surname could be an allusion to Sena River, in Umbria (same name as the river Seine/Seine, in Paris, France) or reference to the towns of Senna, in the region of Lombardia, in the provinces of Lodi e As anrespectively Seine Lodigiana e Senna Comasco.
According to the Italian website Cognomix, the strains of southern Italy may also derive from a surname originating from a medicinal herb call cassia senna, with laxative properties.
Some mentions of this surname can be found in a 1615 sentence in Football, city in the province of Bergamo, issued against a certain Battista Senna, known as il Morino.
The variants of this surname are basically Senna e Siena.
Distribution of families
The Senna variant also has a nucleus in the Milanese area, Pavia e Lodi, a lineage in the area of Catania and a lineage in the Neapolitan area.
Still according to the Cognomix, there are approximately 460 Families with the surname Sena in Italy, 178 in Campania, 54 in Sicilia and 44 in Lazio.
This family name is 1167th in popularity in the region of Campania, the 474th in the province of Avellino and the 7th in the municipality of Scisciano, located in the province of Nápoles.
Geographical distribution of the surname in Italy:
Ayrton Senna
The main personality with the surname Senna, without a doubt, is the Brazilian Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, three-time champion of the category, in 1988, 1990 and 1991.
Ayrton Senna da Silva was born on March 21, 1960 in São Paulo and died in a tragic accident on May 1, 1994, in San Marino Grand PrixIn the city of Imola, region of Emilia-Romagna, province of Bologna, in Italy.
His great-grandfather, Luigi Sena (1869-1939), was born in Scisciano, in the province of Naples. And it was in Brazil that the surname gained its “doppio N”.
According to data Espírito Santo Public Archive, Luigi arrived in Brazil via Espírito Santo. He disembarked in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim on March 20, 1893.
Third world championship
Senna began his career competing in karts in 1973 and moved up categories until debuting in F1 in 1984 by the team Toleman-Hart, scoring in five races in the first season.
In 1988, he joined the French Alain Prost na McLaren-Honda, with whom he had a great rivalry. That year, he won eight stages and became world champion for the first time. In 1990 and 1991 he won again and became the youngest driver to win a third championship in Formula 1 until that moment.
His death provoked one of the greatest commotions in the history of Brazil, as well as worldwide repercussion. Despite having been surpassed in the number of titles by drivers like Michael Schumacher e Lewis Hamilton, to this day it is considered by many drivers and fans to be the best driver in the history of Formula 1 and one of the greatest motorists of all time.
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