Penna Family History

Cornish: of uncertain origin; perhaps a habitational name from any of the places named Penare or Penarth, from Cornish pen-arth ‘promontory’, ‘headland’. Italian (mainly southern): probably a topographic name for someone who lived on a hill or peak, or generally in an elevated location, penna (from Latin pinnus ‘pointed’), a common element of place names. Greek: from the Greek vocabulary word penna ‘quill’, ‘pen’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a clerk or scribe (Greek Pennas, with the occupational suffix -as).

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press