Russo


Russo is a Southern Italian surname, common throughout Central & Southern Italy, and elsewhere due to internal migrations.
A folk etymology says it comes from Standard Italian russo, "a Russian".
The root word of Russo, “Rus',” comes to Italy from Byzantine Greek in which it was adopted from Scandinavian.3 “Rus'” means, “the men who row.” The Rus' people were the original Viking founders of the later Northern Russian Principalities .
Russo may denote Norman nobility in Sicily.

History

The first recorded entry of the name Russo was discovered in the documents of Sperlinga Castle in Enna, Sicily, dated 1132. According to those documents, the Norman Ruler, King Roger II had granted the land title of Sperlinga Castle to one of his descendants, Riccardo. Riccardo was a direct descendant of the House Hauteville, and the King then made him a baron. As a baron, Riccardo then presumably took the surname Russo Rosso and bestowed to the castle a coat of arms featuring a comet against a red backdrop. Prior to the Norman invasion of England, there was no recognizable system for hereditary coats of arms, but it was following that conquest that the Middle Ages saw the dawn of heraldry. The features of the banner are significant in that they provide an explanation and give historical context to the devising of the title, Russo Rosso: red is an archetypal color symbolizing The Warrior, or in general, War, and the image of Halley’s comet has been characterized as an icon for the Viking Invaders, e.g. in the Bayeux Tapestry, denoting a portent of doom for the opposing forces.
It is perhaps owing to the original tandem identity of “Russo Rosso” that the same heraldry is cross-referenced for both the and Russo Rosso Camoli family.

Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 61.5% of all known bearers of the surname Russo were residents of Italy, 18.6% of the United States, 5.1% of Argentina, 4.6% of Brazil, 1.1% of France and 1.0% of Australia.
In Italy, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following regions:
In Argentina, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following provinces:
In the United States, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following states:
In Brazil, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average only in one state: