While watching the Saga last week, it occured to me why didn't Vito ever change his last name back to Andolini?
Any thoughts?

The first thing I thought of was perhaps he was afraid that Don Ciccio would find him easier if his name was still what it was when Ciccio knew him.

That often happened to Italian immigrants who came here. I know a guy named Rocco Sapareto. He got his surname when his great grandfather came to Ellis Island. He had picked up a few words of English before he came, and when the customs agent asked him if he was married he tried to say he and his wife were "Seperated." He kept repeating that word, and eventually the agent just gave him the name "Separeto" and the family kept it.

Good question Mignon.

I would think that Vito did NOT change his name back to Andolini after killing Don Ciccio for two reasons : The first being that he had already legaly established himself in the United States Of America as Vito Corleone. Secondly, even with Don Ciccio dead, there was always the risk of someone related to or attached to Ciccio, still looking for Vito Andolini.

It would not have made any sense at that point in Vito's life for him to change his name back to Andolini.
He had already been given the legal name, Corleone, in the USA.


Don Cardi

I would imagine that as a child, the name change was quite fortunate for young Vito. If inquiries were made from Sicily for the young Vito Andolini, there would be no records of him having entered the US. Afterwards, as was said here previously, he was already established as a Corleone. Also, let us not forget the immigrant mentality not to mess around with paperwork.

The one thing that I do find interesting is that in the book, Vito took the name Corleone as a sentimental gesture to his homeland. I always wondered why FFC changed it, unless it was to show the immigrant's Ellis Island experience.

FFC was a stickler for detail, as our friend Turnbull has pointed out on many different occassions. And I would think that by his changing it the way that he did, he wanted to show us the reality of what many immigrants went through while coming to America, and the reality of how many of them were given new names, by accident, by the authorities.
I for one, happen to like the movie version of this detail better than the book's version.


Don Cardi

I'm gonna have to re-read that part of the book. Thanks for answering my question.

Despite all the reasons written above, Vito was already known in New York City as Don Corleone, changing to Andolini could get more confussion to the people he was dealing with.

I think everyone who posted had the right answer--a nice feature of these fine boards!
I'll just say that:
1) The scene in GFII when the boy Vito is identified by a non-Italian-speaking immigration officer as "Vito Corleone" is absolutely historically correct. As I've posted elsewhere: my grandfather had a polysyllabic last name. When he came to Ellis Island, the immigration officer heard only the first syllable--and that's been our family name ever since.
2. Yes, it would be in Vito's interest not to change his name to "Andolini," in case Don Ciccio or his men were still looking for him.

I'm confused as to how would anyone in NYC know Vito Corleone already. He just arrived in the United States right off the boat. He was just given his name Corleone when he was being processed on Ellis Island. I don't think he had any family in NYC and was alone until he began working for Genco's father.

I think he meant when Vito killed Don Ciccio and returned to America, at that time Vito was already known as Don Corleone in New York.

This sort of error happened all the time and not just in USA. When the British were trying to suppress the Irish language, they decided to "anglicise" everyone's name. So depending on where births/deaths etc were registered and by whom, different versions of the same name became the official English ones. Thus the Irish name "O Conghaire" became either O'Connor, Connor, Connors, Connery etc depending on how it was heard. And the name "Mac Gabhainn" became McGowan, MacGowen, Gowan, Owen,and bizarrely, Smith. Thus people who were closely related ended up with different family names.

Also the great-grandfather of the Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, had the name "Rawlings".

. [/qb][/QUOTE]I think he meant when Vito killed Don Ciccio and returned to America, at that time Vito was already known as Don Corleone in New York. [/QB][/QUOTE]

Yes, I meant that, he could be Andolini once again, but he was legally Corleone in US, I don´t know if he could legally change his last name, well I guess he could, he had political connections and made miracles for everybody, changing his last name is nothing, but he was already known or famous as Corleone, Don Corleone.
So, he didn´t need to change.

Since this change in the book was voluntary, there was nothing else said on the subject. And to the end of the book he was referred to as Vito Corleone, and his sons had this surname.
There was little trouble for FFC to change this small detail of no actual importance - HOW he got the name. But to change all the rest, especially considering that the first movie was already released and everyone was Corleone there, was certainly out of question.