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

Nico, 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 Nico surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nico in America

Nico is the 62359th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nico surname appeared 321 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 Nico.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nico 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 Nico

The surname NICO is believed to have its origins in Italy, dating back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Italian masculine given name Niccolò, which itself is a variant of the Greek name Nikolaos, meaning "victor of the people." This name was particularly popular in the regions of Tuscany and Umbria during the Middle Ages.

In the 13th century, records from the Republic of Siena mention individuals bearing the surname NICO, indicating its early usage as a hereditary family name. One of the earliest known references is a document from 1267 that cites a nobleman named Benincasa NICO, who was a member of the city's ruling council.

The NICO surname can also be traced back to the town of Orvieto in Umbria, where it was borne by a prominent family in the 14th century. A notable member of this family was Niccolò di Nico (1335-1405), a skilled architect and sculptor who contributed to the construction of the town's iconic Cathedral.

In the 15th century, the name appears in various historical documents across Italy, including the Florentine Catasto of 1427, which recorded taxpayers and their properties. One such entry lists a certain Battista NICO, a merchant from the city of Pisa.

As the name spread throughout the Italian peninsula, it evolved into various spellings and regional variations, such as Niccò, Nicchio, and Niccolini. In the 16th century, the renowned Italian painter Francesco NICO (1510-1592) from Naples gained recognition for his religious artwork and frescoes adorning churches in southern Italy.

Another notable figure was the philosopher and mathematician Girolamo NICO (1570-1646), who taught at the University of Pisa and made significant contributions to the field of algebra. His treatise "De Aritmetica" was widely studied in academic circles of the time.

During the 18th century, the NICO surname was also found in Sicily, where Antonio NICO (1725-1798) was a respected jurist and legal scholar who served as a judge in the city of Palermo.

As Italians immigrated to other parts of the world, the NICO surname spread to various countries, including the United States, where it is now found among Italian-American communities.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nico

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

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

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

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