Family name origins & meanings
- Italian : apparently from the medieval personal name Gesualdo, composed of the Germanic elements gīsil ‘pledge’, ‘hostage’, ‘noble offspring’ (see Giesel) + wald ‘rule’, or perhaps a hybrid construction of which the first element is Italian Gesù ‘Jesus’. However, it is possible that the family name is rather habitational in origin, from Gesualdo in Avellino province.