Carrasquillo
A Spanish-language surname most likely tied to a place name or a word for a thorny shrub, with strong Puerto Rican and Caribbean usage.
The #5,009 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 44,012 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Carrasquillo is a Spanish surname built on the root carrasca, a word for holm oak or, more broadly in some regional usage, a tough scrubby shrub. The ending -illo is a Spanish diminutive, so the name likely began as a place-based or descriptive form meaning something like “little thicket” or “place of scrub/oaks.” As with many Iberian surnames, it may also point indirectly to a locality named from that landscape feature.
History
The surname is especially associated with Puerto Rico and the wider Spanish Caribbean, where many Spanish toponymic surnames became established during the colonial period. In modern records it is most common in Puerto Rican families and their diaspora in the United States. Because spellings and place-name origins can overlap, the exact original locality behind individual family lines may vary.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The -illo ending gives the name a distinctly Spanish diminutive flavor, which is why it feels more like a place-name turned surname than a simple nickname.