The English word Latino (Latina is the feminine form) may have derived from the Spanish word latinoamericano and most often refers to inhabitants of Latin America, and their descendents in the United States. It is the abbreviated use of 'Latin-American'; Francophone Canadians are not normally referred to as Latino, even though they speak a Romance language. A Latino person may be of any race ( Amerindian, Mixed Amerindian and white, white, black, and Asian). Although they are mostly of Amerindian descent(South Native Americans). The concept of "Latin America" was coined by the French in the 1800s as a means of legitimizing French influence over the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas; compare Latin Europe. Napoleon III, cited Amérique Latine and Indochine as goals for expansion during his reign. He proposed the Monarchy in Mexico headed by the Austrian Archduke Maximillian or Maximilian I of Mexico. The term emphasized a common culture and history of the Romance language-speaking countries, as opposed to the Germanic language-speaking countries of "Anglo-America".

Since its official adoption in 1997, the definition and usage of the term by the Federal Government is strictly as an ethnic, as opposed to racial, identifier, used together with the term Hispanic.

Authorities of American English maintain a distinction between the terms Hispanic and Latino. Latino is not officially used as a racial label, as a 'Latino' or 'Latin American' can be of any race.

Latino is sometimes used interchangeably with the following terms:

Latin refers to the Latin peoples (linguistic), i.e. Romance-speaking Europeans, and those tracing most of their ancestry to them.

The term Latin is sometimes synonymous with Latino or Latin American, e.g. Latin jazz, Latin music. The Latin Grammy Awards is an event in which many Latins, including Brazilians and Spaniards, Puerto Ricans, Mexican, Colombian, etc, participate.

A Latin American is a national of a Latin American country.

Official use of the term Hispanic has its origins in the 1970 United States Census. The Census Bureau attempted to identify all Hispanics by use of the following criteria in sampled sets:

* Spanish speakers and persons belonging to a household where Spanish was spoken[citation needed]
* Persons with Spanish heritage by birth location[citation needed]
* Persons who self-identify with Spanish ancestry or descent

Spanish people are nationals of Spain and those who trace their descent to Spain directly, not via a Latin American or other country.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org