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

Nero, 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 Nero surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nero in America

Nero is the 7787th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nero surname appeared 4,259 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 Nero.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nero 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 Nero

The surname NERO is of Italian origin, deriving from the Latin word "niger" meaning "black." The name likely arose as a descriptive nickname for someone with dark features or dark hair. It first appeared in historical records during the Middle Ages in regions such as Tuscany and Lazio.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Petrus Niger, a medieval philosopher and scholar from Venice who lived around 1200 AD. The surname was also recorded in the Codice Diplomatico della Lombardia (Diplomatic Code of Lombardy) in the 13th century.

The name gained notoriety due to its association with the Roman emperor Nero (37-68 AD), who ruled from 54 to 68 AD. Although Nero was not his surname, his infamous reign and the tales of his cruelty and excesses have made the name synonymous with tyranny and depravity.

In the 14th century, the surname was found in the Florentine Catasto, a tax record, with mentions of individuals such as Giovanni di Nero and Simone di Nero. During the Renaissance period, the NERO surname was borne by several notable artists and intellectuals, including the painter Battista Neri (1541-1614) and the philosopher and mathematician Niccolo Tartaglia (1499-1557), whose birth name was Niccolò Fontana Nero.

Other historical figures with the NERO surname include the 16th-century Italian mathematician Pietro Neri (1515-1595) and the 17th-century Italian architect and sculptor Giovanni Battista Neri (1617-1686). In more recent times, the Italian film director and screenwriter Franco Nero (born 1941) has carried on the legacy of this surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nero

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

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

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

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