Although this name is of Spanish descent, its origins are Romano-Latin. It is a developed patronymic form either of the topographical "Vicus" meaning "one who lives in a village" or the Romano "Vicarius" a word used to denote an official who carried out pastoral duties in the absence of the holder of the benefice with both Spanish and Italian named free use is made of patronymic suffixes to imply "the son of" or even "son of the son of" to the point where the original base spelling can be reduced to two or even one letter, making origination impossible. Further more for many centuries this "flexibility" was applied to each generation, making "genealogy" extremely difficult. The present name derives from such forms as (for example) Michelle Vico who married Maria Torio in Torino (Italy) on June 13th 1611 and Angelo Vicari, baptised at Benevento, Italy on March 18th 1878. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Costanza de Vicierso, which was dated June 13th 1605, married Louis Abarca de Bolea, at Vallaolid, Espana, during the reign of King Philip 111, King of Spain, 1598 - 1621. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.