Is "Emilio" a last name (also)?

Question:

Is "Emilio" a last name (also)?

I know Emilio is a boys name, but recently I came across a person with the last name Emilio. I'm not really sure it's a family name, though. Got the impression this person had legally changed his name. I've tried Googling it, but with no real results. If anyone knows about this, origin also, please let me know. Thank you

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: yes, Emilio is a last name as well as a first name. In fact, in many cultures patronymic names were used before last names were adopted, so if you were Juan, son of Emilio, your name would be Juan Emilio. So, in essence, that is how a lot of last names came to be.

If you go to the Social Security Death index, you can see that if you type in Emilio in the last name box you will get 98 hits. here is the link.

http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-b...

Suprisingly, many people in the immigration lists with the surname Emilio listed Italian as their nationality. It comes from the south of Italy.