Frequency: (150)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
Italian: patronymic from the personal name Polimeno, from medieval Greek polimenos, variant of poulimenos ‘sold’ (classical Greek pōlēmenos). This may have denoted someone who had been sold into slavery as a child, or been given as an omen name intended to ward off such a fate.
GIVEN NAMES: Italian 22%. Rocco (3), Gino (2), Antonio, Cosimo, Enzo, Giulio, Lucrezia.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
