Vasari: What's in a Name?

[uzbradistan]

From everything I've heard and read, the Italians have always been big into nicknames, which I've always found fascinating, because for most of my life I've lived among people who don't use nicknames at all. (The only "community" where I and others have nicknames is my immediate family circle, which doesn't really count, because we don't use those

Comments

And another thing about Italian names...

[uzbradistan]

Italian names like "Galileo Galilei" have always struck me as unusual and unique. Generally, a final "i" in Italian denotes the plural, so "Galileo Galilei" could mean "Galileo of the Galileos". But that's kind of silly, so I'm guessing that there's some kind of old Latin genitive at work here, so that it really means "Galileo, son of Galileo".

As always, I welcome corrections...

Another name

[alpine_tunnel]

A commonly revered saint in central Europe is Saint John of Nepomuk. You often hear of people named John Nepomuk, like the composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel. In an odd coincidence, it is also common in New Mexico, where for some reason they seem to like the same set of saints as Austrians and Czech people. I have no idea why, but sometimes I wonder if it has to do with Spanish Habsburgs?

Re: Another name

[uzbradistan]

Interesting stuff. I'd never heard of John Nepomuk before visiting Prague a few years ago; and I didn't know people got named after him like that.

I like the possible Hapsburg connection (and can't help preferring the spelling with a "p") for the saint in New Mexico; but I'm also reminded of the "conjunto" music of Texas, and how Latin music there supposedly adopted the use of the accordion because of intermarriage with Czech and German immigrants to the region -- who maybe also brought with them a reverence for St. John Nepomuk...