Show ContentsRicardo History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Ricardo was derived from the personal name Ricardo and is generally thought to be Germanic in origin, brought to Spain by the Visigoths in the 5th and 6th centuries.

Derived from "Ric-hard", the name means "mighty-brave." Ricardo, or Richard, like many of the old Germanic personal names, such as William, Edward, Henry were popular throughout Europe, and were popular names of kings and princes.

Early Origins of the Ricardo family

The surname Ricardo was first found in Castile, along the banks of the Ebro river. The oldest records of the surname in Spain are found in Catalonia where the surname takes the form of Ricart and Ricard. The surname spread throughout Catalonia, creating one of its branches a new house in Vilanova. Others went to different Regions of Spain and the island of Cuba. The Ricards of Catalonia were patrons of the chapel of the Virgin Mary of the Rosary, in Calonge.

Early History of the Ricardo family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ricardo research. Another 96 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1523, 1528, 1628, 1792, 1794 and 1873 are included under the topic Early Ricardo History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ricardo Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Ricardo, Ricardos, Ricart, Ricarte and others.

Early Notables of the Ricardo family

Prominent among bearers of the Ricardo family name at this time was

  • Belarmino Ricardo de Siqueira (1792-1873), Brazilian military official...
  • Francisca Ricardo de Montalbán (c. 1523-1628), born in Spain, emigrated to Chile with his wife and children...

Ricardo Ranking

In the United States, the name Ricardo is the 13,666th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1


United States Ricardo migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Ricardo Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Santiago Ricardo, who arrived in Puerto Rico in 1816 2
  • Pascal Ricardo, who arrived in New York in 1822
  • Guadalupe Ricardo, who applied for citizenship in Texas in 1835
  • Guadalupe Ricardo, who landed in Texas in 1835 2

Contemporary Notables of the name Ricardo (post 1700) +

  • John Lewis Ricardo (1812-1862), English free-trader, son of Jacob Ricardo, financier, and nephew of David Ricardo
  • David Ricardo (1772-1823), English economist, third child of a ‘numerous family;’ his father born in Holland settled in England early in life where he became a member of the Stock Exchange
  • Sir Harry Ralph Ricardo (1885-1974), English mechanical engineer
  • Jose Ricardo (1860-1925), Portuguese stage actor
  • David Ricardo, Venezuelan doctor and philanthropist of English parentage, who founded the Red Cross in Venezuela
  • Hugo Ricardo Talavera Valdez (b. 1949), Paraguayan former football midfielder and forward
  • Luis Ricardo Fraga, American political scientist, President of the Western Political Science Association between 1997 and 1998
  • James Ricardo Forbes (1952-2022), American silver medalist basketball player at the 1972 Olympics
  • Carlos Ricardo Brathwaite (b. 1988), Barbados cricketer, current captain of the West Indies Twenty20 International (T20I) team
  • Sir Roger Ricardo Poore (b. 1930), 7th Baronet of Rushall in the County of Wiltshire, English peer

HMAS Sydney II


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. 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)
  3. HMAS Sydney II, Finding Sydney Foundation - Roll of Honour. (Retrieved 2014, April 24) . Retrieved from http://www.findingsydney.com/roll.asp


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