Moretto

This distinguished surname is of multi-national origin. Spelt in some fifty ways including More, Mores, Moor, Moores, Moors (English), Muir (Scotland), O'Moore (Ireland), Moormann (German), Van der Moeren (Flemish), Mauro, Moro, Moretto (Italian), Moro, Mauri, (Catalonian & Spanish) and many others, it has a number of possible origins. It can be topographical and describe a moor or fen dweller, or it may be locational from places called Mor, More or Moor. Secondly, and more likely in most parts of Europe, it was a nickname for someone of dark or swarthy complexion. This is from the Latin word 'maurus' meaning dark or possibly black. This was also a an early personal name of the same origin, borne by several early saints. In Ireland the surname originated from the Gaelic O'Mordha, meaning the descendant of the proud one. In Scotland and Wales the origination was from the Celtic word 'mor' or the Welsh 'mowr', both meaning great. The surname was first recorded anywhere in world in England in the 11th Century, and it is probable that this recording refers to a Frenchman who accompanied Duke William of Normandy, on his conquest of England in 1066. This was William de More, in the Domesday Book of Suffolk, in 1086.