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

Cairo, 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 Cairo surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Cairo in America

Cairo is the 16555th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Cairo surname appeared 1,734 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Cairo.

We can also compare 2010 data for Cairo 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 Cairo

The surname Cairo originates from Italy and dates back to the early medieval period. It is derived from the Latin word "Caius," which was a common Roman praenomen or personal name. The name may have been given to someone who lived near a prominent landmark or building in an area where Latin was spoken.

Cairo is believed to have been first recorded in the 11th century in the town of Salerno, located in the Campania region of southern Italy. It appeared in various Latin documents and manuscripts from that time, often spelled as "Cairus" or "Cayrus."

In the 13th century, the name Cairo was found in the Codice Diplomatico Barese, a collection of historical documents from the city of Bari in Apulia, southern Italy. This suggests that the name had spread to other parts of the region by that time.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Cairo was Niccolò Cairo, a nobleman and landowner who lived in the 14th century in the town of Aquila, in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. He is mentioned in several local records from that period.

Another notable bearer of the name was Giovanni Cairo, a 15th-century Italian humanist and scholar who was born in Naples in 1440 and died in 1516. He was known for his work in philosophy and his translations of ancient Greek texts.

In the 16th century, the name Cairo appeared in the records of the Republic of Venice, where it was associated with several prominent families involved in maritime trade and commerce.

During the Renaissance period, the surname Cairo was also found in various Italian literary works and artworks. For example, a character named Cairo appears in the 16th-century play "La Mandragola" by the Italian playwright Niccolò Machiavelli.

Other notable individuals with the surname Cairo include the 17th-century Italian painter Cavaliere Giovanni Cairo, and the 18th-century Italian architect and engineer Giovanni Cairo, who designed several notable buildings in Naples.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Cairo

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

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 Cairo 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 Cairo 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 Cairo was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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