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Help[Facts] Sarco, a masculine first name mostly found in Latin America.
Hello everyone,
Last night on Facebook, I stumbled upon a Dutchman whose first name was Sarco. That is quite an unusual name (certainly not a typical Dutch name), one that I have never seen before.
When I subsequently looked on Facebook whether there were other men with this first name, I didn't find any other Dutch bearers. But what I certainly did find, were a lot of Latin American bearers. There were at least 10 Colombian men with this name, and I have also seen bearers from Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Peru and Venezuela.
Apparently, then, this name seems reasonably common in Latin America. Funnily enough, the one Dutchman with this name does not look hispanic at all: he looks like a full-blooded 30-something Dutchman to me, with a typical Dutch surname to boot. His father (whom I've been able to find as well) also looks like an ordinary Dutchman - but unlike his son, he has an old-fashioned Dutch first name. I found no information about the mother, of whom it is technically possible that she is or was latino - but I doubt it. I guess the parents once came across the name Sarco somewhere and just fell in love with it.
Anyway... I wonder about the meaning and origin of Sarco now. I saw that Sarco - and also Sarcos - exists as a surname in Latin America, so perhaps those with Sarco as a first name were given this surname as a first name? That is, assuming surnames as first names is even allowed in Latin America - I don't know anything about the naming laws there. But if it is indeed derived from the surname, then I wonder what it is derived from etymologically. Could there be a relation with Latin sarcio meaning "to patch, botch, mend, repair, restore, make good"? Or maybe even with Greek σαρκίς (sarkis) meaning "meat, flesh"?
What if the first name was never derived from the surname? I suppose it might be a blend of existing names then, as that is a common occurrence in Latin America. Sarco would then probably be a blend of any name starting with S- with Marco. Or could it be possible that Sarco is not a blend at all, but perhaps a "spanization" of an indigenous name from one of the native Latin American peoples?
Alright, I'm afraid that is all the information that I was able to dig up. I am quite curious to see whether someone knows more about this name, in which case I say: thank you very much in advance for any information that you can give! :D
Sincerely,
Lucille
"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend... some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold." ~ Frodo Baggins
Last night on Facebook, I stumbled upon a Dutchman whose first name was Sarco. That is quite an unusual name (certainly not a typical Dutch name), one that I have never seen before.
When I subsequently looked on Facebook whether there were other men with this first name, I didn't find any other Dutch bearers. But what I certainly did find, were a lot of Latin American bearers. There were at least 10 Colombian men with this name, and I have also seen bearers from Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Peru and Venezuela.
Apparently, then, this name seems reasonably common in Latin America. Funnily enough, the one Dutchman with this name does not look hispanic at all: he looks like a full-blooded 30-something Dutchman to me, with a typical Dutch surname to boot. His father (whom I've been able to find as well) also looks like an ordinary Dutchman - but unlike his son, he has an old-fashioned Dutch first name. I found no information about the mother, of whom it is technically possible that she is or was latino - but I doubt it. I guess the parents once came across the name Sarco somewhere and just fell in love with it.
Anyway... I wonder about the meaning and origin of Sarco now. I saw that Sarco - and also Sarcos - exists as a surname in Latin America, so perhaps those with Sarco as a first name were given this surname as a first name? That is, assuming surnames as first names is even allowed in Latin America - I don't know anything about the naming laws there. But if it is indeed derived from the surname, then I wonder what it is derived from etymologically. Could there be a relation with Latin sarcio meaning "to patch, botch, mend, repair, restore, make good"? Or maybe even with Greek σαρκίς (sarkis) meaning "meat, flesh"?
What if the first name was never derived from the surname? I suppose it might be a blend of existing names then, as that is a common occurrence in Latin America. Sarco would then probably be a blend of any name starting with S- with Marco. Or could it be possible that Sarco is not a blend at all, but perhaps a "spanization" of an indigenous name from one of the native Latin American peoples?
Alright, I'm afraid that is all the information that I was able to dig up. I am quite curious to see whether someone knows more about this name, in which case I say: thank you very much in advance for any information that you can give! :D
Sincerely,
Lucille
"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend... some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold." ~ Frodo Baggins
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Replies
Hi,
The last name Sarco is Italian, not from Latin America. I don’t know how it is a name also.
The last name Sarco is Italian, not from Latin America. I don’t know how it is a name also.
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I don't know the name, but by Googling around I got the idea that Sarco might be a variant of Zarco (or vica-versa of course), and sure enough, on this site about Spanish-origin family names there is an entry for "sarco, zarco":
http://www.nmgs.org/artfilgl.htm
Zarco is a Spanish word, with a meaning of "light blue" or similar:
http://es.wiktionary.org/wiki/zarco
http://www.nmgs.org/artfilgl.htm
Zarco is a Spanish word, with a meaning of "light blue" or similar:
http://es.wiktionary.org/wiki/zarco
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Thank you, Rene - that helps a lot! :D I must say that I find myself a bit surprised that it has such a gentle meaning, as Sarco looks like a tough and macho name outwardly. ;) I certainly love it, though! ;)
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The Spanish was taken from the feminine form of an Arabic word for light blue (from which new masculine and neuter forms were formed in Spanish). You're probably thinking of Greek sarkos "(cut) flesh/meat" (also feminine), from which we get sarcophagus and sarcasm (a cutting remark)
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