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

Piccirillo, 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 Piccirillo surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Piccirillo in America

Piccirillo is the 14458th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Piccirillo surname appeared 2,066 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 Piccirillo.

We can also compare 2010 data for Piccirillo 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 Piccirillo

The surname Piccirillo has its origins in Italy, specifically in the southern regions of the country. It emerged during the Middle Ages, likely between the 11th and 13th centuries. The name is derived from the Italian word "piccirillo," which means "small" or "little one." This suggests that the name may have originally been a nickname or descriptive term for a person of small stature or a child.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Piccirillo can be traced back to archival documents from the 14th and 15th centuries in the regions of Campania, Basilicata, and Calabria. It's possible that the name was initially associated with specific locations or villages, as many Italian surnames originated from place names.

One notable historical reference to the name Piccirillo can be found in the 16th-century work "Cronaca della Regia Città di Rossano" (Chronicle of the Royal City of Rossano) by Scipione Saccano, which mentions a family bearing this surname residing in the town of Rossano, Calabria.

Among the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Piccirillo is Giacomo Piccirillo, a prominent jurist and legal scholar who lived in Naples during the 15th century. Another notable figure was Francesco Piccirillo, a renowned painter from Calabria who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

In the 18th century, Giuseppe Piccirillo (1733-1808) was a respected philosopher and theologian from the town of Bisaccia, in the province of Avellino, Campania. He authored several works on moral theology and philosophy.

Moving into the 19th century, Vincenzo Piccirillo (1822-1892) was a prominent Italian journalist and political activist from Naples. He was involved in the Risorgimento movement and advocated for the unification of Italy.

Lastly, Michele Piccirillo (1944-2008) was a renowned Italian archaeologist and scholar of Christian and Byzantine art. He conducted extensive excavations and research in the Middle East, particularly in Jordan, and made significant contributions to the understanding of early Christian and Byzantine architecture and artifacts in the region.

While the surname Piccirillo is relatively uncommon, it has a rich history rooted in the southern regions of Italy, with various historical figures bearing this name contributing to various fields, including law, art, philosophy, journalism, and archaeology.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Piccirillo

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

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

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

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