Napoleone is an Italian male given name. St. Napoleone of Alexandria, alternatively rendered as ''Neopulus'', ''Neopolus'', ''Neopolis'' or ''Neópolo'', whose

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is August 15, was martyred during the early fourth century during the

Diocletianic Persecution The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights ...

. Gabriele Rosa (1858) followed G. F. Zanetti (1751) in accepting the meaning as "nose of lion", though this etymology is viewed sceptically in later sources such as Pio Rajna (1891). The form Napoleone is found as early as

Napoleone Orsini Frangipani Napoleone Orsini (1263 – 24 March 1342) was a Roman Cardinal. His ecclesiastical career lasted 57 years, 54 of them as a cardinal, and included six conclaves. Born in Rome to Rinaldo Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo and of Marino, son of Matteo ...

(1263-1342) a Roman Cardinal. Rosa (1858) identified the name from 1240 as a nickname of a member of the

Della Torre The House of Della Torre (Torriani or Thurn) were an Italian noble family who rose to prominence in Lombardy during the 12th–14th centuries, until they held the lordship of Milan before being ousted by the Visconti. History The family originall ...

family of Valsassina. The most famous holder of the name, with whom the name became virtually synonymous, was

Napoléon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

(1769-1821), christened Napoleone di Buonaparte (Nabulione di Buonaparte according to old Corsican spelling). Damiano Morali (1847) identified the given name Napoleone having first entered the Italian Buonaparte family in 1648.Morali, Damiano. ''Storia genealogica della famiglia Bonaparte, dalla sua origine fino all'estinzione del ramo gia esistente nella città di S. Miniato'', 1847
p.68
"come è stato asserito da uno scrittore oltramontano dei Fasti Napoleonici; ed anche riportato in alcune recenti memorie, nelle quali dicesi che ai secondogeniti imponevasi sempre il nome Napoleone in onoranza della rammentata famiglia."

References

Italian masculine given names {{Name-stub