Where the Asaro surname comes from
Scholars don’t have a single answer about where Asaro comes from, but every theory leads back to Sicily. The most widely held one links it to the Arabic zahr, “orange blossom”: a nickname for someone who grew citrus. Others think of the Arabic name Azar, or of Assoro, an ancient town near Enna. They remain theories, and the PDF tells them one by one.
From Sicily to the end of the dinosaurs
The surname crossed the ocean without losing its ancient sound. In California an Asaro made a discovery that changed the way we tell the story of how the dinosaurs died out. His daughter won one of the highest honors in science fiction. Their stories, along with that of a senator born in the province of Caltanissetta, are in the PDF.
Where the Asaro families live today
Asaro is a surname from western Sicily. There are about 1,200 families in Italy, and its heart is the Trapani area. In Mazara del Vallo it is among the most common surnames in town. The families in Lombardy and Lazio came with the emigration of the 1900s. The PDF has the region-by-region map and the countries around the world they reached.
Variants
The PDF records no common variants of the Asaro surname.
FAQ
What does the surname Asaro mean?
Its origin is debated. The most widely held theory is the Arabic zahr, “orange blossom,” a nickname for someone who grew citrus. Others think of the Arabic name Azar, or of the town of Assoro, near Enna.
Is Asaro a Sicilian surname?
Yes. Every theory about its origin leads back to Sicily, and the heart of the surname is the Trapani area, with Mazara del Vallo. The families in the North and in Lazio arrived with the emigration of the 1900s.
Is Asaro an Arabic surname?
It may be. Western Sicily still bears the mark of the Arabs who ruled it, and the Arabic theory is the most common one. But no birth certificate survives for a surname this old, so it remains a theory.
Are all Asaros related?
Not all of them. When a surname is so tied to a single town, the people who carry it in Mazara del Vallo quite often belong to related families. Only birth records and parish registers can tell you for sure.
Is the Asaro surname noble?
No. The Asaro name does not appear in heraldry collections with a coat of arms of its own: it was born among ordinary townspeople, not at court.
Is there an Asaro family coat of arms?
No. Heraldry collections record no coat of arms for the Asaro families. A coat of arms belonged to one specific branch of a family, and no coat of arms belongs to a whole surname.
