Vigo was born to Emily Clero and the prominent Catalan militant anarchist Eugeni Bonaventura de Vigo i Sallés, (who adopted the name Miguel Almereyda—an anagram of ‘y'a la merde’, which translates as ‘there's shit’). Much of Jean's early life was spent on the run with his parents. His father was imprisoned and murdered in Fresnes Prison on 13th August 1917. Some speculated that Almereyda was hushed up by order of extreme Socialist politicians, Malvy and Caillaux, men later punished for war-time treason. The young Vigo was subsequently sent to boarding school under an assumed name, Jean Sales, to conceal his identity.