Cicero
A Roman surname originally linked to chickpeas or peas, later famous through the statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero.
The #9,563 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 90,834 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname comes from Latin cicer, meaning “chickpea,” and is traditionally explained as a nickname or family name connected with peas or pulse. Roman authors and later surname writers often grouped Cicero with other old Roman agricultural names such as Piso and Fabius. The literal sense is therefore something like “pea man” or “chickpea man,” though the exact origin may have been nicknaming rather than a direct occupation.
History
The name is best known from Marcus Tullius Cicero, the celebrated Roman orator and statesman, which made it one of the most famous ancient Roman surnames. Later writers used it as an example of a classical name with a humble agricultural meaning. In modern times it is also used as a given name or surname in Italian and other Romance-language communities, often influenced by admiration for the classical figure.
Origin
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Fun fact
19th-century commentators liked to point out that Cicero literally meant something like “the eloquent Mr. Pea.”
From the historical record
“I slept never on the mount of Pernaso, No lerncd JIarcus Tuliius Cicero." The following quaint passage, written temp. Elizabeth, is put into the mouth of a ' plow- man,' and illustrates a feature in the ar- rangements of our churches — the rood-loft —”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom