Pellicano Family History

Italian (southern): (also Pellicanò): nickname from dialect pelecanò pelicanò ‘woodpecker’ from modern Greek pelekanos ‘green woodpecker’ (cognate with pelekan ‘pelican’; both come from pelekys ‘axe’ the pelican because its beak is shaped like an axe the woodpecker because it uses its beak like an axe).

Altered form of Pelacani or Pelacane a nickname for a tanner from pelare ‘to skin’ + cani ‘dogs’ (or cane ‘dog’) also used in a figurative sense as a nickname for a rough rude or coarse person or for a rogue pilferer;

alteration may thus have been euphemistic to coincide with the word pellicano ‘pelican’. Compare Pellicane.