Grasso
An Italian surname meaning “fat,” “thick,” or “stout,” originally a nickname for a stocky person.
The #4,492 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 39,111 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Grasso comes from Italian grasso, meaning “fat,” “plump,” or more broadly “thick” or “stout.” The word ultimately goes back to Latin crassus, “thick” or “coarse,” a common source of descriptive surnames in Romance languages. In surname use, it most likely began as a nickname for someone with a sturdy build or a robust appearance.
History
The surname is especially associated with Italy and is well attested there in medieval and later records. It also appears in some French and other Romance-language surname forms, which is consistent with the broad spread of descriptive nicknames across medieval Europe. The form Grasso remains common in Italy and among Italian diaspora communities.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because grasso is a plain everyday adjective in Italian, the surname is a classic example of how ordinary nicknames became hereditary family names.
From the historical record
“Gramen. Qld German Garsia, 8th cent. English Grass, Grassie. Mod. German Graesse. French Grass, Grassi, Grasso, Garce, Garceau, Garcia. diminutives. Eng. Grassick. French Grassal.”
— The Teutonic Name-System applied to the family names of France, England and Germany