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

Cirillo, 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 Cirillo surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Cirillo in America

Cirillo is the 8870th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Cirillo surname appeared 3,692 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 Cirillo.

We can also compare 2010 data for Cirillo 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 Cirillo

The surname Cirillo originates from Italy, with its roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to have derived from the Latin name Cyrillus, which itself comes from the Greek word "kyrios," meaning "lord" or "master."

The earliest known records of the name Cirillo can be traced back to the 12th century in the southern Italian regions of Campania and Calabria. It is likely that the name was initially adopted by families who settled in these areas during the Norman conquest of southern Italy in the 11th and 12th centuries.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Pietro Cirillo, a prominent lawyer and judge who lived in Naples in the late 13th century. He is mentioned in several legal documents from that time period.

In the 15th century, the name appears in the records of the Aragonese court of Naples, with several individuals bearing the surname Cirillo serving as advisors and officials to the royal family.

During the Renaissance period, the name gained further prominence with the scholar and philosopher Battista Cirillo, born in Grumento Nova, Basilicata, in 1475. He was a renowned humanist and wrote several influential works on philosophy and literature.

Another notable figure was Domenico Cirillo, a prominent botanist and physician born in Grumo Nevano, near Naples, in 1739. He made significant contributions to the study of plant life and was a member of several prestigious scientific academies.

In the 19th century, the name Cirillo was associated with the Italian unification movement, with Ferdinando Cirillo, born in Palermo in 1820, being a prominent political activist and supporter of Giuseppe Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand.

Other notable individuals with the surname Cirillo include the 20th-century Italian film director Renato Cirillo, born in Naples in 1926, and the Italian-American mobster John Cirillo, also known as "Johnny Dio," who was a prominent figure in the New York City criminal underworld in the 1970s and 1980s.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Cirillo

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

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

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

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