Jerico is a Spanish-style form of Jericho, the ancient biblical place name of uncertain Hebrew origin.
Jerico draws its power from one of the most resonant place-names in human history: Jericho, regarded by archaeologists as among the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, with settlement layers dating back more than ten thousand years. The Hebrew name Yeriho is ancient enough that its original meaning is debated — proposed derivations include the word for 'moon' (yareach), reflecting a lunar cult in the city's earliest period, and the word for 'fragrant' (reach), perhaps describing the abundant spring that made the oasis city possible in the Judean desert. Either etymology carries an evocative weight.
In the Hebrew Bible, Jericho is the city whose walls fell to Joshua's army after seven days of ritual circling and the blast of ram's-horn trumpets — a story of faith, military miracle, and total destruction that has been retold in hymns, sermons, spirituals, and folk songs across three millennia. The African American spiritual 'Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho' made the name deeply familiar in American cultural memory long before it began appearing as a given name. As a personal name, Jerico (without the final 'h') carries all this mythic weight in a form that feels more intimate and less purely geographic than Jericho.
It has a strong, open sound — three syllables that end on a bright 'o' — that suits contemporary naming sensibilities. Parents who choose it often prize its biblical grandeur, its historical depth, and the quiet drama of a name that carries the memory of walls coming down.