romero

Romero is a surname of Spanish origin. In Spanish, romero denotes the herb rosemary, and the surname has been adopted by families across Spanish-speaking regions. The name is common in Spain and throughout Latin America, and it has also appeared in the United States through immigration and diaspora communities.

Notable people with the surname include Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (1917–1980), the Archbishop of San Salvador who spoke out on social justice during the Salvadoran Civil War and was killed in 1980; he was beatified in 2015 and canonized as a saint in 2018. Another prominent figure is George A. Romero (1940–2017), an American-Canadian filmmaker renowned for shaping modern zombie cinema, notably with Night of the Living Dead (1968) and its successors.

Romero has also been used as the title or subject of media. The 1989 biographical drama Romero, directed by John Duigan, portrays Óscar Romero and stars Raúl Juliá.

Geography and other uses: The name is used for places, including towns and municipalities in various Spanish-speaking countries and in the United States. In addition to its use as a surname and a place name, romero remains the Spanish word for the herb rosemary.