Del Toro
A Spanish surname meaning “of the bull,” usually pointing to a place name, a farm, or a house sign rather than a literal nickname.
The #4,862 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 42,580 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Del Toro is a Spanish surname built from del, meaning “of the,” and toro, meaning “bull.” In many Spanish surnames, this kind of form originally referred to someone from a place called Toro, to a property or landmark known as “the bull,” or occasionally to a sign-name used to identify a house or estate. The deeper root of toro goes back to Latin taurus, “bull.”
History
The surname is especially associated with Spanish-speaking regions and is also well known in Hispanic communities in the Americas. In some cases it may reflect the name of the Castilian town of Toro or another local place-name built from the same word. The surname is best known internationally through the actor Benicio del Toro.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Toro is a common place-name in Spain, so a surname like Del Toro can sometimes point to ancestry from that town rather than to animals at all.