Napoleon

Where Napoleon comes from

From French Napoléon, from Italian Napoleone, name of an early saint, of uncertain origin; possibly from the Germanic clan name Nibelung. By folk etymology explained as Napoli (“Naples”) + leone (“lion”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Napoleon
  • 4 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1807
    Napoleon Orda born
    Polish artist
  2. 1808
    Napoleon III born
    President of the Second French Republic, Emperor of the Second French Empire and last monarch of France
  3. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #299 among boys — 31 babies in the first year on record.
  4. 1887
    Peak, #294
    32 babies named Napoleon — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1903
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #550.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Italian sometimes given in honor of the French emperor.
Namesakes
  • Napoleon III · President of the Second French Republic, Emperor of the Second French Empire and last monarch of France, 1808–1873
  • Napoleon Orda · Polish artist, 1807–1883
  • Napoleon Chagnon · American anthropologist, 1938–2019
  • Napoleon Sarony · American artist, 1821–1896
  • Napoleon Cybulski · Polish biologist, 1854–1919

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.