The surname Rotta-Neto is a Portuguese and Italian combination of two separate surnames.
"Rotta" is an Italian toponymic surname derived from various places named Rota or Rotta throughout Italy. The word "rota" means wheel in Latin, which could refer to a settlement shaped like a wheel or located near a mill.
"Neto" is a Portuguese and Brazilian patronymic surname that originated as a way of indicating that the male bearer was the son of someone named Neto. In Portuguese naming conventions, Neto typically means "son" and is added to the father's first name. For example, if João had a son, his son would be called João Neto (meaning John's son).
The combination of these two surnames, Rotta-Neto, likely emerged when someone with the Italian surname Rota immigrated to a Portuguese or Brazilian region and took on the patronymic Neto to identify their paternal lineage within the new cultural context.
