Montefiore (surname)

Montefiore, is a surname, meaning "flower mountain". The surname is associated with the Montefiore family, Sephardi Jews who were diplomats and bankers all over Europe.
The name derives from one of three towns in Italy, although it is not known which one. By 1630 the Montefiores were merchants living in Ancona, with some of them later moving to Livorno.
Notable people with the surname include:

Adam Montefiore, British-born Israeli wine trade veteran and wine critic
Alan Montefiore, British philosopher and Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford
Albert Montefiore Hyamson, British civil servant and historian, chief immigration officer in British Palestine 1921–1934
Claude Montefiore, philosopher
Dora Montefiore, English-Australian women's suffragist, socialist, poet, and autobiographer
Eliezer Levi Montefiore, businessman and art collector in Melbourne and Adelaide
Fausto Montefiore, Italian boxer
Georges Montefiore-Levi, Belgian politician, inventor and philanthropist
Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, author, attorney, and journalist
Hugh Montefiore, bishop of Birmingham 1977–1987 and environmentalist
Jacob Barrow Montefiore, Colonial Commissioner for South Australia resident in London
Jacob Levi Montefiore, Australian politician
John Israel Montefiore, New Zealand trader and merchant
Joseph Barrow Montefiore, merchant and financier in the Australian colonies
Joseph Meyer Montefiore, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, 1862–1868, 1868–1871, and 1874–1880
Joseph Sebag-Montefiore financier
Judith Montefiore, British linguist, musician, and philanthropist, wife of Sir Moses
Sir Moses Montefiore, prominent British financier, stockbroker, banker and philanthropist, husband of Judith
Moses Eliezer Montefiore, probably brother of Jacob and Joseph Barrow
Leonard A. Montefiore, British author and philanthropist
Leonard G. Montefiore, Anglo-Jewish community leader and philanthropist
Santa Montefiore, British author
Simon Sebag Montefiore, British historian and author