Caro History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Italy

From the ancient and beautiful Italian island of Sicily emerged a variety of distinguished names, including the notable surname Caro. Although people were originally known only by a single name, it became necessary for people to adopt a second name to identify themselves as populations grew and travel became more frequent. 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. Local names, also found in Italy, are derived from a place-name where the original bearer once resided or held land. Often Italian local surnames bore the prefix "di," which signifies emigration from one place to another, and does not necessarily denote nobility. The Caro family lived in a town just outside Palermo, as in 1189, a member of the Caro family was the Archbishop of Monreale.

Early Origins of the Caro family

The surname Caro was first found in Sicily (Italian: Sicilia), the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, Naples and the southern portion of the peninsula. Research shows that records of the Caro family date back to the year 1189 when a member of the Caro family was the Archbishop of Monreale, a town just outside Palermo.

Early History of the Caro family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Caro research. The years 1460, 1470, 1499, 1507, 1508, 1520, 1525, 1543, 1557, 1566, 1571, 1602, 1610, 1653, 1713, 1725, 1770, 1825 and 1841 are included under the topic Early Caro History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Caro Spelling Variations

Enormous variation in spelling and form characterizes those Italian names that originated in the medieval era. This is caused by two main factors: regional tradition, and inaccuracies in the recording process. Before the last few hundred years, scribes spelled names according to their sounds. Spelling variations were the unsurprising result. The variations of Caro include Caro, Cari, Cara, De Caro, Di Caro, Di Cara, La Cara, Li Cari, Carello, Carelli, Carella, Carillo, Caretti, Caroli, Caretta, Carino, Carini, Caruccio, Carucci, Carocci, Carracci, Caricchio, Caricchia, Carollo, Carullo, Carulli, Carotti, Carone, Caroni, Carofiglio, Carofratello, Carolillo, Carotenuto and many more.

Early Notables of the Caro family

Prominent among bearers of this surname in early times was

Others include Gioffredo Caroli, who was the mayor of Salozzo in 1460; Michelotto Corella (killed 1508), a Valencian condottiero; Annibale Caro, (1507-1566) Italian nobleman and famous author in Civit...

Caro Ranking

In the United States, the name Caro is the 3,918^th most popular surname with an estimated 7,461 people with that name. 1 However, in France, the name Caro is ranked the 1,300^th most popular surname with an estimated 4,347 people with that name. 2

Caro migration to the United States +

A look at the immigration and passenger lists has shown a number of people bearing the name Caro:

Caro Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Jose Caro, who landed in Puerto Rico in 1816 3
Francisco Caro, who arrived in Puerto Rico in 1821 3
Luis Caro, who arrived in America in 1828 3
A P Caro, aged 35, who arrived in New Orleans, La in 1829 3
Feliciano Caro, who landed in Texas in 1835 3
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Caro 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

Caro Settlers in West Indies in the 19th Century

Diego Caro, who arrived in Dominican Republic in 1838 3

Contemporary Notables of the name Caro (post 1700) +

Nydia Caro (b. 1948), American actress and singer
Mike A. Caro (b. 1944), American professional poker player
Laura Isabel Caro Beltrán (b. 1983), Mexican recording artist
José María Caro Rodríguez (1866-1958), Chilean Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop of Santiago from 1939 until his death
Miguel Antonio Caro Tobar (1845-1909), Colombian scholar, poet, journalist, philosopher, orator, philologist, lawyer and politician, 27th President of Colombia (1894-1898), 2nd Vice President of Colombia (1892-1894)
Heinrich Caro (1834-1910), German chemist who developed "Caro's acid" (peroxymonosulfuric acid)
Horatio Caro (1862-1920), English chess master from Newcastle upon Tyne
Niki Caro (b. 1967), New Zealand award winning film director, producer and screenwriter
Sir Anthony Caro OM, CBE (1924-2013), English abstract sculptor
Pío Caro Baroja (1928-2015), Spanish film and television director, screenwriter, and author

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