In my family, who came from Naples, my great grandfather (born in 1883, so of the same generation as Vito) always desired to have a grandson named for him. In 1952, his first grandson was born to my great uncle, but he wasn't given his grandfather's name--And apparently, my great grandfather felt hurt and disrespected.

Two years later, my grandfather had his third child, and many expected it to be a boy with plans to name the child after his father--but it turned out to be a daughter, my grandfather's third girl in a row. At this point, my great grandfather is said to have remarked, "What's a matter with you, you only know how to make girls?"

On my other side, my great great grandfather's son named his eldest son after his father, thus grandfather and grandson had the same name.

Perhaps it's just my family, but it seems names, as a way of paying respect or tribute to an elder male in the family, seem to have been important.

Wouldn't it have been a tad disrespectful, then, that Michael named his firstborn son Anthony rather than Vito after his own father? As far as we know, none of Vito's grandchildren bear his name--Of the names we know, we know a Frank, an Anthony, a Victor and Vincent. Not a single Vito among them.

I dont think so, especially considering his middle name is Vito, after his grandfather.

Kay may have had something to do with that.

Actually, according to Geary, his middle name was Vye-to.

I think the decision to relegate his father's name to a middle name was part of Michael's quest for legitimacy.

Anthony is an Italian name, but much more "mainstream" than Vito. As Anthony rose in the legitimate world that name would raise fewer eyebrows and not have as many stereotypical associations.

After all, even Geary couldn't mispronounce it.

Woltz, you're probably right. But we should also recognize that times change and so did Michael. Talk about disrespectful. Michael presided over an operation that included prostitution (legal or not) and murdering women. Vito must have turned over his his grave over all of that. As Roth said: "Name your kid what you want to; it's all small potatoes."

The novel makes the point that Michael was so concerned about being "legitimate" and "American" that he was disappointed when Kay took instruction in the Catholic Church. Perhaps naming his son "Anthony" was somehow less "ethnic" than naming him "Vito"? Not a major difference, IMO, but maybe to Michael...

Well its more 'American" than Antonio. But if they had really wanted to go all the way they would have called him "Tony."

Maybe Michael liked having an "American" name as opposed to his siblings (Santino, Fredo, and Concetta),and just wanted to pass that on to his kids.

You talking about Sonny, Freddie, Connie and Mike?

I think Connie's name was Constanza.

You are correct.

I stand corrected

Yes and no. It's traditionally first born after the father's parent. The middle name thing became more common during the forties and fifties, the period of assimilation, when people said they weren't naming their kids Rocco, Nunzio, Carmella or Rosalia, etc. Their were those who named after the grand parent but used a middle name that they would call the child; something like Guido James and the kid would only be called James. Except of course when Mom was angry, then every name was used to call the child, which indicated he was in serious trouble. The grandparents were usually satisfied if they knew their name was on the birth certificate.

I was named after my Dad. He frequently called me Giusepp. I told him that I really would have liked to have been named Dominic. That was one of my grandfather's name.

Vito=Vittorio=Victor

His name is Anthony Vito Corleone. Antonio was Vito's father's first name, so he was named for both his late great grandfather and his grandfather.

Those Italians had some customs that could not be broken. My in-laws went for the name thing. Two children of Andrew had their own kids 2 months apart. Both boys were named Andrew after their grandfather, BUT the one Andrew was the second son. The first son was named Michael after his father (a KrautMick )

Yeah this is it. He was named after vito's father antonio andolini