Angelo

/ˈan.d͡ʒe.lo/

Angelo is the Italian form of the name Angel, derived from the Late Latin angelus and ultimately from the Greek angelos (ἄγγελος), meaning “messenger” or “envoy.” In classical Greek, the word described any human herald or bearer of news, but Jewish

US Rank

No. 286

Births

1,170

Peak Year

1916

and Christian translators of the Septuagint adopted it around the 3rd century BCE to render the Hebrew mal’akh, the word for a divine messenger.

The literal sense of “messenger of God” has carried the name ever since.

What the name Angelo means

The name entered common Italian use during the late Middle Ages, often chosen in reference to the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.

Fra Angelico, born Guido di Pietro around 1395, was a Dominican friar and painter whose frescoes at the Convent of San Marco in Florence remain landmarks of early Renaissance art.

Pope Angelo Correr, who reigned as Gregory XII from 1406 to 1415, further embedded the name within Italian ecclesiastical tradition.

Literary and cultural bearers include the sculptor and poet Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), whose given name incorporated the element, and the Renaissance humanist Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494), tutor to the Medici children and author of the

Italian pastoral Orfeo.

The name also appears in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (around 1604), where Lord Angelo serves as the morally compromised deputy of Vienna.

Angelo has appeared within the U.S. SSA top 1000 continuously since records began in 1880, peaking around number 120 in 1915 during the height of Italian immigration.

It has held steady within the top 400 through the 2020s, with strong use among Italian American, Filipino, and Hispanic families. The name remains among the top 50 boys’ names in Italy and is common throughout Latin America.

Contemporary bearers include cycling champion Angelo Furlan, actor Angelo Badalamenti, and numerous Italian American community figures.