Gallego History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Italy
Spain

From the historical and enchanting Italian region of Tuscany emerged a multitude of noble families, including the distinguished Gallego family. During the Middle Ages, as populations grew and travel between regions became more frequent, the people of Tuscany found it necessary to adopt a second name to identify themselves and their families. The process of adopting fixed hereditary surnames was not complete until the modern era, but the use of hereditary family names in Italy began in the 10th and 11th centuries. Italian hereditary surnames were developed according to fairly general principles and they were characterized by a profusion of derivatives coined from given names. Although the most common type of family name found in Tuscany is the patronymic surname, which is derived from the father's given name, the nickname type of surname is also frequently found. Nickname surnames were derived from an eke-name, or added name. They usually reflected the physical characteristics or attributes of the first person that used the name. The surname Gallego is a name for a person with some of the attributes associated with a bird, such as a fine voice or sexual prowess. The name, which was also very popular in Spain during the Middle Ages, is derived from the Latin word Gallus which means rooster.

Early Origins of the Gallego family

The surname Gallego was first found in northern Italy which today incorporates the provinces of Cremona, Brescia, Pisa and the city of Florence. The earliest records of the surname Gallego date back to Florence, where the Galigai family can be traced to 1039.

Early History of the Gallego family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gallego research. The years 1381, 1497, 1510, 1528, 1540, 1564, 1576, 1590, 1595, 1615, 1624, 1632, 1636, 1671, 1714, 1737, 1850 and 1868 are included under the topic Early Gallego History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gallego Spelling Variations

Surnames that originated in Italy are characterized by an enormous number of spelling variations. Some of these are derived from regional traditions and dialects. Northern names, for instance, often end in "o", while southern names tend to end in "i". Other variations come from the fact the medieval scribes tended to spell according to the sound of words, rather than any particular set of rules. The recorded variations of Gallego include Galli, Gallo, Gall, Gallis, Gallelli, Gallello, Galletti, Galigai, Gallico, Galelei, Galladei, Galeota, Galizzi, Gallego, Gallini, Gallino, Gallucci, Galluccio, Galluzzi, Gallus, Galliussi, Gallozzi, Gallotti, Galloni, Gallone, Gallarini and many more.

Early Notables of the Gallego family

Prominent among members of the family was

Francesco Galeota, born in 1497 in Naples, who was a poet and a nobleman. Eighteen members of the Galilei family of Florence became priests between 1381 and 1528. Giulio Cesare la Galla (1576-1624), w...

Gallego Ranking

In the United States, the name Gallego is the 7,537^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1 However, in France, the name Gallego is ranked the 2,208^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,891 people with that name. 2

Gallego migration to the United States +

In the immigration and passenger lists were a number of people bearing the name Gallego

Gallego Settlers in United States in the 16th Century

Cristóbal Gallego, who sailed to America in 1510
Diego Gallego went to America in 1512
Alonso Gallego, who sailed to America in 1512
Miguel Gallego to America in 1514
Lorenzo Gallego to Hispaniola in 1537
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Gallego Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Silvestre Gallego, who arrived in Puerto Rico in 1803 3
Cristobal Gallego, who landed in America in 1810 3
Diego Gallego, who arrived in America in 1812 3
Francisco Gallego, who arrived in America in 1812 3
Juan Gallego, who arrived in America in 1812 3
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Gallego migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 4

Gallego Settlers in West Indies in the 19th Century

Lorenzo Gallego, who arrived in Dominican Republic in 1837 3

Contemporary Notables of the name Gallego (post 1700) +

Mike Gallego, American professional baseball player
Américo Gallego, Argentine footballer
Ricardo Gallego, Spanish footballer
Justo Gallego Martínez (1925-2021), also known as Don Justo, a Spanish farmer and monk who built a cathedral on his own in the town of Mejorada del Campo

Citations +

"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies