Napoleon

In francophone communities throughout the United States and Canada, the name Napoléon has for generations been an expression of French pride and a gesture of linguistic and cultural resistance in an otherwise anglophone environment. I met a French-speaking six-year-old boy in Ontario just a couple of years ago with this first name.

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While there have been thousands of people name “Napoleon Bonaparte” in the U.S. and Canada, these are from otherwise anglophone backgrounds; in francophone milieux, a person with “Napoléon” as a first name generally never has “Bonaparte” as a middle name.

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In New England, we call ourselves “French” because of who we are in New England, not because of the Métropole or the Belle Province. And when a child has been named “Napoléon,” it is not because of Bonaparte, but because of pride in being French.

Also used among the English Romani community in the 1800s:
https://rtfhs.org.uk/the_rtfhs_baptism_index/ -- YOUNG Napoleon, Bp 3 October 1886, Holy Trinity, South Shore, Blackpool, Lancashire, son of Alfred and Derelia Young, of Gipsies’ camp, South Shore, Hawker.
https://www.geocities.ws/seraphim_angel_2002/HeronPedigree.html -- George Napoleon Gray, b. Circa 1876 Bloxwich Stf

You might want to include in this entry that Napoleon is the English spelling of Napoléon. You see, the proper French spelling of the name includes an 'e' with an acute accent. In turn, the French name is a gallicized form of the Italian name Napoleone, which is the name that Napoleon (who was of Italian descent) was actually given at his birth and baptism. Napoleone is an old Italian name that has been around since at least the Renaissance.

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So, in short: Napoleone (Italian) ---> Napoléon (French) ---> Napoleon (English)

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For more information, see:

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- entry for Napoleon at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon (in English)
- popularity statistics for Napoleone in Renaissance Italy: http://www.behindthename.com/name/napoleone/top (in English). [noted -ed]