Figaro Family History

Italian: from dialect figaro ‘fig-tree’ (see also 3 below) used as a topographic name or an occupational name for a fig seller. Americanized form of Italian Ficara and Ficarra changed under influence of a well known personal name Figaro from the Beaumarchais' plays (see 4 below).

French: perhaps a variant of Figarol a southern French diminutive derivative of Latin ficarius ‘fig-tree’ (compare 1 above). Alternatively from the personal name Figaro (see 4 below) probably applied as a nickname.

West Indian (mainly Haiti) and Mauritian: from the personal name Figaro borne by a hero of the famous plays (most notably The Marriage of Figaro 1778) of the French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais.