Esposito is an Italian surname for millions of people throughout the world. The origin of the name however, is from the Italian peninsula. There are a few different ideas as to the exact origin of the name where the surname seems to have originated in the region of Campania Italy, more specifically, from the city of Naples and its surrounding area. If a person has the surname Esposito, then their ancestors can almost exclusively be traced back to the Naples area.

It is traditionally said that the name was given to children in Italy long ago who were abandoned or given up for adoption." The institutions were churches or "foundling hospitals" known as Ospizio degli esposti. When Italy became united, it passed laws forbidding the practice of giving surnames that reflect a child's origins.

There are two main meanings for the surname. The first and most common is from the Latin word EXPOSITUS, the past participle of the Latin verb exponere, which translates as "to place outside". It is the Italian word esposto, which is the Italian adjective for exposed (derived from the past participle of the verb exponere), meaning the child was "exposed to the world."

The second meaning is derived from the Latin phrase ex positum (literally "from this place"). This is the same as many other illegitimate child-names, for instance the most famous, Leonardo daVinci where da (Italian for from) Vinci (a small town near Florence where he was born). Also people with the surnames like Napoletano, Genovese, Romano, Pugliese.

Other Variations of the name mostly throughout Italy are; Sposito, Esposto, D'Esposito, Esposti, and Degli Esposti (a variant of Bologna meaning from the exposed). Most of these names are derived from the Italian language. Esposto means exposed, esposti is the plural form. Degli means "from the" so Degli Esposti literally means "from the exposed.

There are many people of note with the surname Esposito:

• Angelo Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player
• Dennis Esposito, Italian footballer
• Dino Esposito, an MSDN magazine columnist
• Giancarlo Esposito, Danish actor
• Gino Esposito, a fictional character on the Australian soap opera Neighbours
• Jennifer Esposito, American actress
• Joe Esposito (disambiguation)
• John Esposito, American professor at Georgetown University
• Larry W. Esposito, American planetary astronomer
• Mauro Esposito, Italian footballer
• Mary Ann Esposito, American cooking show host
• Mike Esposito, may refer to several people
• Nick Esposito, owner of Esposito's Italian Ices
• Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player
• Raffaele Esposito, Italian tavern owner
• Roberto Esposito, Italian philospher and political theorist
• Rosario Francesco Esposito, Italian Roman Catholic priest
• Sam Esposito, American college baseball coach
• Scot Esposito, American collage artist
• Thomas Esposito, American lawyer
• Tony Esposito, Canadian ice hockey goalie; younger brother of Phil Esposito
• Tony Esposito, a musician, singer-songwriter and drummer from Italy
• Vincenzo Esposito, Italian basketball coach
• Vincenzo Esposito, Italian footballer and coach
• Zack Esposito, American amateur wrestler
• John P. D'Esposito, American Entrepreneur and writer

This page or section lists people with the surname Esposito. If an internal link for a specific person referred you to this page, you may wish to add the given name(s) to that link.