Where does the last name Sirian come from?

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Request for Question Clarification by surajambar-ga on 24 Mar 2003 11:25 PST

Do you know (or have any family traditions about) where *perhaps* the
surname may have begun geographically?  If so it may be easier for me
to determine an origin.  Candidates include the speculations that I
have made below as well as a Jewish origin.  Also, please let me know
if my comment below contains something that suffices as an answer and
I will repost it as such.

Thanks for using Google Answers,
Surajambar-ga

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Clarification of Question by classicpicture-ga on 24 Mar 2003 17:00 PST

The name was Dante Sirian.  I thought the last name may have been
Armenian as well but the first name suggests Italian.  The information
I received was great!

Because of the "Dante" information, I feel confident enough to post,
as an answer, that the surname is quite likely to be an alteration of
the name Siriàno or Siriàna.  The main problem I see is that the only
empirical evidence for the existence of other Sirians that I can see
comes from a county in Hungary which was not terribly likely to have
Italian merchants.  That county, by the way, is today in the territory
of Romania and was a Romanian majority area of the Hungarian Monarchy
(unlike parts of Transylvania to the northeast).  If you would like, I
can probably find some source for a Romanian origin for the name. 
It's possible that the name is Romanian and comes from the same Roman
origin.  The area which became the Hungarian county Krassó-Szörény was
settled by Latin speakers in the first and second centuries AD.

Unfortunately the best I can come up with are a few guesses,
especially without knowing the origin of your particular Sirian.

Sirian itself is not in any of the dictionaries of surnames that I
have access to.  The closest I could find is in Emidio De Felice's
"Dizionario dei nomi italiani."  Here there is an entry for "Siro"
with variants listed as including Sìrio, Siria, Siriàno, and Siriàna. 
It is my guess that the latter of these two names could be the source
of Siria.  If so, according to De Felice's dictionary, the name comes
from the Latin ethnic name "Syrus" or "Syrius" and means "Syrian." 
This name's origin is traceable to the Roman Empire, and in Italy, it
could have been applied to merchant families from the Roman province
of Syria or to families known for importing Syrian goods.  De Felice
also states that the adoption of the name by many in the north of
Italy had to do with the popularity of the cult of San Siro (Saint
Cyril, Saint Syrus, the first bishop of Pavia in the 1st century.

I originally thought of an Armenian origin for the name because of the
suffix -ian meaning son, but I do not know nor was I able to find
"Sir' as an Armenian given name or root.

The only relevant hit on Google for the search including the words
"sirian" and "surname" is a list of surnames found on a Hungarian
genealogy site.  A search for "Sirian" on that site comes up with the
fact that two Sirians were located in the province of Krassó-Szörény
according to an Industry and Trade Directory of Hungary in 1891. 
Hungary was quite cosmopolitan at the time and merchant families tend
to be of unknown origins, so it is possible that this particular
family is Italian.

Saint Siro
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saints08.htm

1891 Database
http://www.radixindex.com/cgi-bin/ipvm.pl?surname=sirian

I'll give you these guesses here and also post a question
clarification.

Hope it all helps,
Surajambar-ga
Google Researcher