Find out how popular the last name Banjo is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Banjo.

Banjo, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Banjo surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Banjo in America

Banjo is the 98553rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Banjo surname appeared 184 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Banjo.

We can also compare 2010 data for Banjo to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Banjo

The surname Banjo is believed to have originated in the late 16th or early 17th century in the Campania region of southern Italy, particularly in the province of Salerno. It is thought to have derived from the Italian word "bangio," which means "ditch" or "small stream." This suggests that the name may have initially been a topographic surname, given to someone who lived near a ditch or stream.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Banjo can be found in the baptismal records of the town of Montecorvino Rovella in Salerno, where a certain Domenico Banjo was baptized in 1632. Another early reference is a marriage record from the nearby town of Eboli, where a Giovanni Banjo married Maria Fusco in 1649.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Banjo name spread to other parts of Italy, including the regions of Calabria and Sicily. Notable individuals with this surname include Giuseppe Banjo (1780-1844), a noted sculptor from Palermo, Sicily, and Antonio Banjo (1822-1898), a prominent lawyer and politician from Naples.

As Italian immigration to the United States increased in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Banjo surname began to appear in American records. One of the earliest recorded Banjos in America was Vincenzo Banjo, who arrived in New York City from Naples in 1892.

Other notable individuals with the Banjo surname include:

1. Francesco Banjo (1846-1918), an Italian painter and art critic from Naples.
2. Emilio Banjo (1875-1942), an Italian-American composer and musician who popularized the mandolin in the United States.
3. Maria Banjo (1902-1987), an Italian-American actress and dancer who appeared in several Broadway productions.
4. Salvatore Banjo (1920-2003), an Italian-American journalist and author who wrote extensively about the Italian-American experience.
5. Caterina Banjo (1944-present), an Italian-American artist and sculptor based in New York City.

While the Banjo surname is not among the most common in Italy or the United States, it has a rich history that can be traced back to its origins in the Campania region of southern Italy.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Banjo

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Banjo.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Banjo was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Banjo has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Banjo was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Banjo, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!