It is certainly a real classical name and not a fiction–in fact, I think Dino De Laurentis is the biggest independent film producer in the world, with cult classics like “Conan” and “Dune” under his belt. What is not entirely clear is why his name is spelled in two ways, De Laurentis and De Laurentiis. A quick discussion with an expert in all things classical and a bit of reading have turned up some interesting things.
Firstly, there is no precise rule in Italian regarding names, and to my knowledge there never was. The majority of names do end in a vowel, however names (and other expressions such as “gratis”) that end in consonants indicate direct descent–without phonetic transformations–from Latin. We also know that Southern Italian names tend to reflect a greater Latin influence than Northern Italian names. De Laurentis, we know, is from the South. The “De” as opposed to “Di” probably means that this is an original Latin name, and not the genitive of a previous name (as “Di” could indicate).
De Laurentis or De Laurentiis means “belonging to the Laurenti” family. It’s a plural ablative because the preposition “de” requires the ablative.
Laurentum (Laurento in Italian) was a pre-Roman city, and was the capital of Latium (land of the Latins), from which comes the name of the present-day region in Italy, Lazio. That also happens to be the region of Rome.
Latium is where, according to Virgil’s Aeneid, Aeneas ended his long journeys after the fall of Troy. Following varied confrontations and vicissitudes, the Latins allied with the surviving Trojans, and Eaneas married the daughter of Latinus, king of the Latins. The two tribes founded Albalonga, whence came the founders of Rome.
The only problem seems to be that no other writer before Virgil mentions these histories in any detail, and we know that Virgil was trying to ingratiate himself with Octavian Augustus and the gens Julius. The accounts may therefore contain some bias.
The gens (tribe or clan) is a historical Roman term that groups families sharing the same name and origins. For example, Julius Caesar’s name was Caius Julius Caesar, where Caius was the praenomen (first or given name), Julius was the Nomen (gens or clan), and Caesar was the cognomen (a nickname for the purpose of identification, since there were very few first names to go round).
The cognomina in slightly later times were assigned by inheritance (such as “Caesar”), and therefore also became family names. In fact, “cognome” now means family name in Italian. There is thus some confusion with Italian names, but we know that families tracing their origins back to the Romans retained a Latin form of their name, as in the case of De Laurentis.
As to what the family name De Laurentis means, after 3,000 years there are a few options. The name could refer to the city Laurentum, or to a tribe who gained their name from that city. There is a chance that the “De” may indicate nobility, although there is a lot of confusion on this topic. “Laurus” is the Latin for laurel, or bay tree, so I am guessing that the “De” and the ablative in De Laurentis could also mean “he who cares for bay trees” (meaning that his family were owners of a plantation perhaps). However, bay trees are what may have given the ancient city Laurentum its name in the first place. Confusing.
To investigate further we would need to consult with Dino, or with someone who studied the De Laurentis family name. After 3,000 years it’s not easy to keep the thread!