Amerigo

Origin: Italian
Gender: Male
Meaning “home ruler.”
(ah-MARE-ee-go)

Amerigo is an obscure Italian male name made famous by Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer, navigator and cartographer.

The continents of South and North America get their names from him. America being a feminized latinate version of Amerigo.

Amerigo itself comes from the Germanic elements haim meaning “home” and rich meaning “power, ruler; authority.”

Other forms of the name include:

• Emerika (Basque)
• Amèric/Emeric (Catalan)
• Emmerik (Dutch)
• Americ/Amery (English)
• Emery (English: currently the 744th most popular male name in the United States-2008)
• Aimeric/Aymeric/Émeric (French)
• Aymeri/Aimery (French)
• Emmerich (German)
• Imre/Imrus (Hungarian)
• Almerigo/Almerico (Italian)
• Americo (Italian: modern form)
• Emerico (Italian)
• Merico/Merigo (Italian)
• Americus (Latin)
• Emerikas (Lithuanian)
• Ajmeryk (P0lish)
• Amalaryk/Amalryk (Polish)
• Embryk/Emeryk (Polish)
• Emmeric (Romanian)
• Imrich (Slovak/Czech)
• Américo (Spanish/Portuguese)
• Emerico (Spanish)
• Emerik (Swedish/Croatian)

A feminine form is the Spanish, América, currently borne by Ugly Betty star, America Ferrer.

Other feminine forms are:

• Ameriga/Almeriga (Italian)