Pardo (Hebrew: פרדו) is a very old surname of Sephardic Jewish origin and judaite tribe [1] that derives from the Greek and Latin name Pardus which means leopard, to later change to Spanish Pardo meaning (Spa: marrón / Eng: brown-grey) and referring to the color of the feline, in Latin "Panthera pardus" (leopard).
This surname belongs to the Jewish people who settled in the Iberian Peninsula, specifically in Sagunto (Murviedro), Valencia, being at that time the ancient Roman province of Hispania, which later with the arrival of Christianity, some Jews would convert to have a better social status, this being long before being forced to convert to Christianity by the Catholic Monarchs or their subsequent expulsion.
Today it is also found in countries including Israel, Spain, Colombia, Greece, Turkey, the United States, Curaçao, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Italy.
This diaspora led many Sephardic Jews to settle in cities of the Ottoman Empire, in many cases sponsored by its authorities, who not only welcomed this group of immigrants, but encouraged them to settle in regions that had not long been conquered, to consolidate Ottoman sovereignty.
Many Jews were forced to leave Spain and spread to various European territories, such as Thessaloniki (Greece), Bitola (city of North Macedonia), the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and after the conquest of America they went to the new Spanish colonies, where persecution continued under the auspices of the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition.