Nigro
An Italian surname meaning “black” or “dark,” usually a nickname for someone with dark hair, complexion, or clothing.
The #7,016 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 64,686 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Nigro comes from Italian nigro, an older or dialectal form meaning “black” or “dark,” ultimately from Latin niger, “black.” As a surname, it was likely first used as a descriptive nickname for a person with dark hair, skin, clothing, or a darker appearance than others. In some historical records it also appears with place-identifying phrases, but the core name is the color word.
History
The surname is found in medieval and later Italian records, especially in southern Italy, where color-based nicknames were a common source of family names. It also appears in Latinized documentary forms such as de Nigro or Petro Nigro in older charters. The name has spread through Italian migration and is now most familiar in Italy and Italian-descended communities abroad.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Color surnames like Nigro were so common in medieval Europe that they often began as casual bynames and later became fixed family names.
From the historical record
“Piaster. See Plastek. Plews. Palph de Plus nigro, Xor- mandy, llSO-0.5 (MPS/: Palph Plusneir llOS (lb.). Pichard de Pley.-. England, c. 1272 (PII). Plimmer, for PLCilMER.”
— The Norman People and their existing descendants in the British dominions and the United States