Gallo
A surname with several possible roots, most often from a nickname meaning “cockerel” or from an ethnic name connected with Gaul or the French.
The #1,560 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,391 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Gallo is usually explained from the Latin and Romance word for a rooster or cockerel, ultimately from Latin gallus, “rooster.” In some families it may also come from a nickname or byname referring to a Frenchman or Gaul, since medieval Romance languages used related forms for “Gaul” and “Frenchman.” Because the same spelling appears in several language traditions, different lines may have different origins.
History
Gallo is well established in Italy and also appears in Spanish- and French-speaking areas. In Italy it has long been a common surname, and modern bearers in the Americas often descend from Italian or Hispanic immigrant lines. Older scholarship sometimes connected related forms to regional names such as Galloway, but that does not explain the surname Gallo itself.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root behind Gallo is also found in words for a rooster in several Romance languages, which is why the surname can have a very vivid nickname sense.
From the historical record
“Callaway, Callway, Callo- way.—Local. Not ai suggested by Lower, ■ corruptian of Gallo- way (though, considering the fact that C and G are so constantly inlcrcb«t>Ke«ble, the idea was sensi-”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instancesNotable people named Gallo
- Vincent Gallo (b. 1961)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.