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

Piro, 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 Piro surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Piro in America

Piro is the 16254th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Piro surname appeared 1,775 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 Piro.

We can also compare 2010 data for Piro 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 Piro

The surname PIRO originates from Italy, where it first emerged during the medieval period. It is believed to have derived from the Italian word "piro," which means "pear tree." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near or worked with pear trees.

In the 13th century, records show the name appearing in various forms, such as Piro, Piri, and Pyro, in regions like Sicily and Calabria. The earliest known bearers of the name were likely associated with the cultivation or trade of pears, reflecting the agricultural roots of many Italian surnames.

One of the earliest documented references to the name PIRO can be found in the "Codice Diplomatico Barese," a collection of medieval documents from the city of Bari, dating back to the 11th century. This suggests that the name had already established itself in southern Italy by that time.

In the 15th century, a notable bearer of the PIRO name was Giovanni Piro, a scholar and poet from Calabria who lived from 1440 to 1504. His works, including poetry and translations, contributed to the cultural and literary landscape of the Renaissance era in Italy.

Another prominent figure with the PIRO surname was Girolamo Piro, a 16th-century Italian painter from Naples. He was known for his religious works and frescoes, some of which can still be found in churches and monasteries in and around Naples.

During the 17th century, Francesco Piro, a lawyer and jurist from Sicily, gained recognition for his legal writings and contributions to the development of Sicilian law. He was born in Palermo in 1612 and his works were widely studied and referenced by legal scholars of the time.

In the 19th century, Antonio Piro, a Italian politician and writer from Calabria, played a significant role in the Risorgimento movement, which aimed to unify Italy under a single nation-state. He was born in 1818 and his writings and political activism helped shape the course of Italian history.

Throughout the centuries, the PIRO surname has been associated with various places in Italy, such as the town of Piro in the province of Vibo Valentia, and the village of Piro Calabro in the province of Cosenza, both located in the region of Calabria. These place names likely share a common etymology with the surname, reflecting the deep-rooted connections between Italian surnames and local geography.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Piro

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

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

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

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