Crespo
A Spanish surname meaning “curly” or “frizzy,” originally used as a nickname for someone with curly hair.
The #2,042 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 17,514 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Crespo comes from Spanish crespo, meaning “curly,” “wavy,” or “frizzy,” especially of hair. The word goes back to Latin crispus, “curled” or “crinkled.” As a surname, it began as a descriptive nickname for a person with naturally curly hair or a similar physical trait.
History
The surname appears in medieval Spanish records as a byname used much like other descriptive labels for physical appearance. It spread widely across the Spanish-speaking world and is now well established in Spain and Latin America. Historical sources also show it functioning simply as a label for an individual, such as “the curly one,” before becoming a fixed family name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root is behind English words like “crisp,” all ultimately tied to the idea of something curled or crinkled.
From the historical record
“Crea. Cierto lienzo entrefino. Crespo. Ensortijado o rizado, se dice del cabello que na- turalmente forma rizos o sortiillas. Creston. La parte de la celada que se levanta sobre la cabeza en figura de cresta.. |”
— Diccionario de los apellidos