Serrato
A Spanish surname likely tied to a saw-like feature or to a place-name built on the word for a mountain ridge.
The #3,415 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 29,548 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Serrato is probably connected to Spanish/Latin "sierra" and related forms meaning a saw, a saw-shaped ridge, or a mountainous height. In older Spanish onomastic writing, it is also glossed by analogy with something “toothed like a saw,” suggesting a descriptive source for the name. It may therefore have begun as a nickname or a locational surname for someone from a serrated or hilly place.
History
The form appears in Spanish surname lists and is treated alongside other place-based surnames in 19th-century scholarship. Because the historical excerpts here are incidental rather than a full dictionary entry, the exact path of formation is not certain. In modern usage it survives mainly in Spanish-speaking regions and in diaspora communities, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root behind Serrato also appears in Spanish words for a mountain range, because a ridge can look like the teeth of a saw.
From the historical record
“Serrano. El que habita en una sierra o ha nacido en ella. Serrato. Músculo que tiene dientes a modo de sierra. Seviros. Nombre de los sacerdotes de Augusto o Augus- tales; comandantes de los escuadrones de caballeria romana.”
— Diccionario de los apellidos