Show ContentsTello History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Tello comes from the personal name Tello derived from the Latin "tellus" meaning "land" or "earth."

Early Origins of the Tello family

The surname Tello was first found in Galicia, in the northwest corner of Spain.

Early History of the Tello family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tello research. Another 39 words (3 lines of text) covering the years 1337, 1370, 1583 and 1648 are included under the topic Early Tello History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tello Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Tellez, Talles, Tello, Tell, Tel, Telo, Teles and others.

Early Notables of the Tello family

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

  • Tello of Castile (1337-1370), born in Seville, the seventh of the ten illegitimate children of Alfonso XI of Castile and Eleanor of Guzman

Tello Ranking

In the United States, the name Tello is the 6,512nd most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 1


United States Tello migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Tello Settlers in United States in the 16th Century
  • Juan Tello and his family were among the first settlers of Spanish America, arriving in 1513
  • Garcia Tello to Venezuela in 1534
  • Francisco Tello, who sailed to the Spanish Main in 1536
  • Maria Tello and her two daughters sailed to New Spain in 1581
  • Juana de Medina Tello to the Philippines in 1595
Tello Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Juan Tello, who arrived in America in 1813 2
  • Garcia Tello, who landed in Venezuela in 1834 2
  • Antonio Tello, who landed in New Spain in 1835 2
  • Francisco Tello, who arrived in Spanish Main in 1836 2
  • Jose Maria Tello, who landed in Puerto Rico in 1845 2
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Tello (post 1700) +

  • Stephen "Steve" J. Tello (b. 1950), American television executive, Senior Vice President and General Manager of FOX Sports Houston
  • Manuel Diego Tello Jorge (b. 1984), Spanish footballer
  • Cristian Tello Herrera (b. 1991), Spanish footballer
  • Jorge Manuel Sotomayor Tello (1942-2022), Peruvian-born, Brazilian mathematician who worked on differential equations, bifurcation theory, differential equations of classical geometry
  • Claudio Tello (1963-2014), Chilean footballer who played from 1988 to 1992, member of the Chile National Team in 1988
  • Edier Tello (b. 1990), Colombian football forward
  • Gary Tello Mery (b. 1993), Chilean professional footballer
  • Carlos Tello Macías (b. 1938), Mexican socialist-oriented economist, academic and diplomat, former ambassador to Cuba, Portugal and Russia
  • Manuel Tello Baurraud (1898-1971), Mexican diplomat who represented his country at the League of Nations (1938 to 1941)
  • Julio César Tello (1880-1947), Peruvian archaeologist, the "father of Peruvian archeology"
  • ... (Another 1 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)


  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)


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