Neri
surname · Latin script
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
Neri is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Brazil than in any other country. Recorded meaning: Neri is a biblical name of Hebrew origin meaning "my light" or "my candle".
- PHPhilippines≈1 in 5.3K(inferred from the name graph)
- BRBrazil≈1 in 6.6K
- ARArgentina1 in 30K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Brazil (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 201 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 3.2K (inferred from the name graph)
≈32,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Italy, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
Neri is a biblical name of Hebrew origin meaning "my light" or "my candle". It appears in the lineage of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, giving it a quiet but significant biblical heritage. Its simple, bright meaning and sound make it a unique and appealing choice.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 3 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Neri counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BR Brazil | #348 | ≈32,000 est. | ≈1 in 6.6K | 15K | Neri | 146 |
| PH Philippines | — | ≈20,000 est. | ≈1 in 5.3K | — | Neri | 51 |
| IT Italy | — | ≈20,000 est. | ≈1 in 3.2K | 32 | Neri | 78 |
| US United States | — | 8,094 | 1 in 41K | 8.1K | Neri | 201 |
| FR France | — | ≈1,600 est. | ≈1 in 43K | 172 | — | 2 |
| AR Argentina | — | 1,522 | 1 in 30K | 1.5K | Neri | 66 |
| CH Switzerland | — | 275 | 1 in 31K | 275 | — | 18 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: IBGE — Nomes (census name API); Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; RENAPER — Apellidos (person counts, national); ISTAT — Contanomi newborn per-name series (1999–2024, JSONP backend); BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames); INSEE — Fichier des noms de famille (1891–2000). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Neri is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
The name Neri is of Hebrew origin and means "my light" or "my lamp". It is likely derived from the Hebrew word 'ner' (נֵר), meaning 'lamp' or 'candle'.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
As an ancestor in the genealogy of Jesus, Neri's significance lies in being a link in the fulfillment of the prophecy that the Messiah would descend from the line of David. His inclusion underscores the theme of God's faithfulness in preserving the messianic lineage through the generations.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
In Spanish, from a short form of the personal name Raineri, Ran(i)eri, or Rin(i)eri, or in some cases from later personal names such as Guamiero, Falconiere, Soldaniero.
as a nameDictionary of American Family Names
In Spanish, from a personal name, from the name of a 16th-century Italian saint, Filippo Neri (see 2).
as a nameDictionary of American Family Names
In Italian, forma plural de Nero; também redução popular de sobrenomes terminados em -eri
as a nameDicionário dos sobrenomes italianos
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Philip Nerib. 1515FR16th‑century Italian priest and spiritual director, Catholic saint, key Counter‑Reformation reformer and founder of the Congregation of the Oratory
- Romeo Nerib. 1903ITItalian gymnast, 3 Olympic golds (1903–1961)
- Giulio Nerib. 1909ITItalian operatic bass (1909-1958)
- Giacomo Nerib. 1916ITItalian footballer and manager (1916-2010)
- Maino Nerib. 1924ITItalian footballer and manager (1924-1995)
- Rosalba Nerib. 1939ITItalian actress
- Giancarlo Nerib. 1955ITItalian footballer and sculptor (born 1955)
- Francesca Nerib. 1964ITItalian actress
- Fernando Redondob. 1969ARnot in their usual nameArgentine association football player
- Tommaso Nerib. 2001ITItalian actor
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 71 sources across 34 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 8.1K | #4,394 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 7.7K | #4,462 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 6.3K | #5,133 |
| AR Argentina | RENAPER — Apellidos (person counts, national) | — | 1.5K | — |
| CH Switzerland | BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames) | 2024 | 275 | #4,748 |
| FR France | INSEE — Fichier des noms de famille (1891–2000) | 1991 | 172 | — |
Reference works 8
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Cognomix.it (Nomix s.r.l.) — Italian surname origin dictionary
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does the name Neri come from?
- Neri is a biblical name of Hebrew origin meaning "my light" or "my candle". It appears in the lineage of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, giving it a quiet but significant biblical heritage. Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- In which country does Neri have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 32 thousand people named Neri in Brazil, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled neri.
- What does the name Neri mean?
- Recorded meaning: Neri is a biblical name of Hebrew origin meaning "my light" or "my candle".
- How common is the name Neri?
- In the United States, the national register counted 8,094 people named Neri in 2010, about 1 in 41 thousand residents.
- How common is Neri compared with other names?
- In Brazil, Neri is the 348th most common surname of 424,864 surnames recorded there.
What do you want to know about Neri?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/neriThe same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), and bulk access is licensed separately.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Neri” — the 348th most common surname in Brazil. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.