Melo
A surname found in Iberian and Italian families, usually explained as a place name or, in some cases, as a nickname derived from the word for “apple.”
The #3,655 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,728 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Melo is most often linked to the Romance word for “apple,” ultimately from Latin *mala* / *malum* in related regional forms, and in some cases may come from a place-name rather than a direct descriptive nickname. In Portuguese and Spanish, surnames of this shape are commonly toponymic, referring to someone from a place called Melo or from an area associated with apple trees. In Italian, similar surnames can also arise from dialect words or from local place names with the same root sense.
History
The surname is especially well known in Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking world, and it also appears in Spain and Italy through parallel local surname traditions. In many cases it traveled with migration from the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas and beyond. Because short surnames like this can arise independently in more than one region, the same spelling does not always point to a single family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
De Melo is a familiar noble-style Portuguese surname form, literally meaning “of Melo” in many historical records.
From the historical record
“tlie present Age. 1804, vol. i. Albyn's Anthology, or, a Select Collection of the melo- dies and local poetry peculiar to Scotland and the Isles ; vol- ume first 1816, volume second 1818. CAMPBELL, John, a zealous missionary and African traveller, was born at Edinburgh in March”
— The Scottish Nation; or, the surnames, families ... of the people of Scotland, vol. 1Notable people named Melo
- Arthur Melo (b. 1996)
- Felipe Melo (b. 1983)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.