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Updated February 20, 2024

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Family name origins & meanings

  • Spanish and Italian : from bello ‘handsome’ (Late Latin bellus), hence a nickname for a handsome man or perhaps in some instances ironically for an ugly one. In medieval Italy the word was also applied as a personal name, which also gave rise to the surname.
  • Catalan (Belló) : variant of Abelló (see Abello).
  • Galician : variant of Vello, from a personal name which is either a variant of Vela or a derivative of Latin vetulus, a diminutive of vetus ‘old’.

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