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I found that the sentence "Loro non hanno assunto nessuno" translates to "They did not hire anyone".
Since nessuno begins with "n-", I would think it translates to "no one", but the English word in this case is "anyone". Is there a separate word for "anyone"? Why is "nessuno" used here? This seems like a double negative to me - are those common in Italian?
Yes, double negatives are grammatical, and common, in Italian.
See on this monolingual dictionary, for instance:
Se posposto al verbo, è di solito rafforzato da altra negazione (non, né, senza, ecc.).
My translation: when the word nessuno comes after the verb, usually it is reinforced by another negation: non, né, senza, etc.
Examples from the same source:
non c’era quasi nessuno; nessuno ha potuto vedermi; non mi ha visto nessuno
You could say non hanno assunto alcuna persona instead, which would be the literal translation (any = alcuno), but it is used a lot less.
Also, a historical note from the same source
L’uso di nessuno insieme a un’altra negazione non era ammesso nel latino classico, ma trova ampi riscontri nel latino tardo ed era perfettamente accettabile già nell’italiano antico
già non è nessuno / cui non posse di botto / dicere (B. Latini, Il tesoretto).
