As well as Bilbao It is a surname typical of Bilbao, Vigo is not so common in Vigo. What’s more, there’s little chance that if you have that last name, you were born in O Berbés, but that you have done it in Cuzco or Lima. Peru has the highest concentration of ‘Vigos’, with up to 14,000 inhabitants with the surname, more than in seven other countries such as Spain and Italy.
The origin of the surname Vigo is really disputed. The great abundance of the surname in Peru looks directly at Galicia. On the one hand, as the expert and author of the Heraldic and Nobility Dictionary of the Kingdoms of Spain Fernando González-Doria points out and La Voz de Galicia reports, Vigo comes from a branch that spread in the Middle Ages from the Northwest due to the Reconquest.
On the other hand, it also comes from a branch from the Italian city of Genoa, where the famous knight Alberto Vigo came from, who served in the wars against the French in the times of Charles I of Spain and V of Germany. Some consider those who bear the surname Vigo in Spain to come from his descendants.
Peru triples Spain in ‘Vigos’
It is surprising that Vigo is more frequent in a country other than Spain. A total of 14,008 Peruvians have the last name Vigo, quadrupling the number of Spain (4,242), Argentina (4,121), Italy (3,572) or the Philippines (2,964).
The surname has spread to several countries. Italian emigration in Peru existed in its day, although it is not comparable to that of Argentina or Uruguay, so it is normal for Vigo to come from Galicia or Italy.
However, Galicia only has 1,928 Vigos in its community, and where it is most abundant is in the province of A Coruña, according to the National Institute of Statistics, even ten times more common.
The coat of arms is formed by a chevron, with a description that details: “In field of gules, a gold chevron, accompanied by three gold stars, accompanied by three silver stars”.
Vigo family coat of arms
