Mancuso
An Italian surname most often understood as a nickname for someone with a hand disability or a bent hand/arm.
The #3,665 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,793 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Mancuso is generally traced to Italian manco, meaning “left-handed,” “maimed,” or “lacking,” ultimately from Latin mancus, “maimed” or “imperfect.” The surname likely began as a descriptive nickname for a person with a physical characteristic involving the hand or arm, or more broadly for someone considered “lame” or “defective” in an old descriptive sense. In some cases, surnames of this type may also have been reinforced by dialect forms or regional naming habits in southern Italy.
History
Mancuso is strongly associated with Italy, especially southern regions such as Sicily and Calabria, and it is common in the Italian diaspora. Like many Italian surnames, it would have become hereditary over time from an earlier nickname used to identify an individual or family line. The name is well represented in immigrant communities in the Americas, particularly the United States, Argentina, and Canada.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The root behind Mancuso is the same Latin word family that gave English the term “mancus” in older scholarly and historical usage.