List of English translated personal names
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This is a list of personal names known in English that are modified from another language and are or were not used among the person themselves.
It does not include:
- names of monarchs, which are commonly translated (e.g. Pope Francis), although current and recent monarchs are often untranslated today (e.g. Felipe VI of Spain)
- aliases, pseudonyms, and stage names (such as the librettist Metastasio)
- latinized spellings of other languages and other spelling variants (such as removal/spelling out of diacritics, e.g. Arnold Schoenberg, born Arnold Schönberg, US citizen in 1941)[1])
- permanent name changes, colloquially known as "Ellis Island Specials" (such as George Frideric Handel born Georg Friedrich Händel, naturalised British subject in 1727; Sumner Redstone, legally translated his originally German/Yiddish surname Rothstein along with the rest of his family in 1940)
This list also includes names from non-English languages the individual did not use, such as Latin or French.
Modern convention is not to translate modern personal names.[2]
Translated names currently used
[edit]| English name | Original name | Language | Notability | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Agricola | Alexander Ackerman | Dutch | Artist (musician) | |
| Averroes | Muḥammad Ibn-'Aḥmad Ibn-Rushd | Arabic | Intellectual (philosopher) | |
| Avicenna | 'Ali Ibn Al-Ḥusayn Ibn-'Abdillāh Ibn-Ḥasan Ibn-Sīnā | Arabic | Intellectual (philosopher) | |
| Bill Alexander | Wilhelm Alexander | German | Artist (painter) | Self-translated |
| Catiline | Lucius Sergius Catilina | Latin | Political leader | |
| Christopher Columbus | Cristóbal Colón | Spanish | Explorer | |
| Cristoffa Corombo | Ligurian | |||
| Claudius Salmasius | Claude Saumise | French | Intellectual | |
| Clovis I | Chlodovechus | Latin | Political leader | |
| Hlōdowig | Frankish | |||
| Confucius | Kǒng Qiū (孔 丘) | Mandarin | Intellectual (philosopher) | Birth name, no longer used |
| Kǒng Fūzǐ (孔 夫子) | Mandarin | |||
| Cornplanter | Gaiänt'wakê | Seneca | Political leader | |
| John Abeel III | English | Birth name, no longer used | ||
| Denis the Carthusian | Denys van Leeuwen | Dutch | Religious figure | |
| Ferdinand Magellan | Fernão de Magalhães | Portuguese | Explorer | |
| Ferenc Dávid | Franz David Hertel | German | Religious figure | Hungarian and German names were both in use |
| George Santayana | Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana | Spanish | Intellectual (philosopher) | Self-translated |
| Georgius Agricola | Georg Pawer | German | Intellectual (scientist) | |
| Gerardus Mercator | Gheert Cremer | Dutch | Intellectual (philosopher) | |
| Hector Boyardee | Ettore Boiardi | Italian | Chef | |
| Henry of Ghent | Henri de Gand | French | Intellectual (philosopher) | |
| Henricus Gadavensus | Latin | |||
| Hieronymous Bosch | Jheronimus Bosch | Dutch | Artist (painter) | |
| Homer | Hómēros (Ὅμηρος) | Ancient Greek | Artist (poet) | |
| Horace | Quintus Horatius Flaccus | Latin | Artist (poet) | |
| Hugo Etherianis | Ugo Eteriano | Italian | Religious figure | |
| Hugo Grotius | Huig de Groot | Dutch | Intellectual | |
| Ignatius of Loyola | Ignacio de Loyola | Spanish | Religious figure (saint) | |
| Jacobus Arminius | Jacob Hermanszoon | Dutch | Religious figure | |
| Jerome | Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus | Latin | Theologian | |
| Jesus | Iēsoûs (Ἰησοῦς) | Koine Greek | Religious figure | |
| John Amos Comenius | Jan Amos Komenský | Czech | Intellectual (philosopher) Religious figure | |
| John Cabot | Zuan Chabotto | Venetian | Explorer | |
| John Calvin | Jehan Cauvin | French | Religious figure (reformer) | |
| John Huss | Jan Hus | Czech | Religious figure (reformer) | |
| John of Damascus | Yuḥannā Ad-Dimashqi (يوحنا الدمشقي,) | Arabic | Religious figure (saint) | |
| Josephus | Titus Flavius Josephus | Latin | Intellectual (philosopher) | Full Latin name. |
| Yosef Ben-Matityahu (יוסף בן מתתיהו) | Hebrew | |||
| Lee Iacocca | Lido Iacocca | Italian | Businessman | |
| Livy | Titus Livius Patavinus | Latin | Intellectual (historian) | |
| Julius Evola | Giulio Cesare Andrea baron Evola | Italian | Intellectual (philosopher) Relligious figure (mystic) | |
| Maimonides | Moses Maimonides | Latin | Intellectual (philosopher) | |
| Moshe Ben-Maymon (משה בן מימון) | Hebrew | |||
| Mūsa Ibn-Maymūn (موسى بن ميمون) | Arabic | |||
| Mark Antony | Marcus Antonius | Latin | Political leader | |
| Mencius | Mèng Kē (孟 軻) | Mandarin | Intellectual (philosopher) | Birth name, no longer used |
| Mèngzī (孟 子) | Mandarin | |||
| Michael Servetus | Miguel Serveto | Spanish | Intellectual (scientist) | |
| Moses | Mōše (מֹשֶׁה) | Biblical Hebrew | Religious figure (prophet) | |
| Muhammad ibn Abdullah | Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh (مُحَمَّد ٱبن عَبْد ٱللَّٰه) | Arabic | Religious figure (prophet) | |
| Nachmanides | Bonastruc ça Porta | Catalan | Intellectual (philosopher) Religious figure | |
| Moshe Ben-Nachman (משה בן נחמן) | Hebrew | |||
| Nicolas Steno | Nicolas Stenonis | Latin | Intellectual (scientist) Religious figure | |
| Niels Steensen | Danish | |||
| Nicolaus Copernicus | Niklas Koppernigk[3] | German | Intellectual (scientist) | |
| Mikołaj Kopernik | Polish | |||
| Nostradamus | Michel de Nostredame | French | Intellectual | |
| Octavian | Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus | Latin | Roman emperor | |
| Ovid | Publius Ovidius Naso | Latin | Artist (poet) | |
| Paul of Venice | Paolo da Veneto | Italian | Intellectual (philosopher) | |
| Paolo Nicoletto | Italian | Birth name, no longer used | ||
| Paulus Venetus | Latin | |||
| Pete Fountain | Pierre LaFontaine, Jr. | French | Artist (musician) | |
| Peter Damian | Pietro Damiani | Italian | Religious figure (saint) | |
| Peter Lombard | Pietro Lombardo | Italian | Intellectual (philosopher) | |
| Peter of Bruys | Pierre de Bruys | French | Religious figure (priest) | |
| Peter of Ravenna | Pietro de Ravenna | Italian | Intellectual | |
| Peter Waldo | Pierre Vaudès | French | Religious figure | |
| Petrarch | Francesco Petracco | Italian | Artist (poet) Intellectual | |
| Franciscus Petrarca | Latin | |||
| Petrus Apianis | Peter Bienewitz | German | Intellectual (scientist) | |
| Plato | Plátōn | Ancient Greek | Philosopher | |
| Pompey | Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus | Latin | Political leader | |
| Raphael | Raffaello Sanzio | Italian | Artist | |
| Regiomontanus | Johannes Müller von Königsberg | German | Intellectual (scientist) | |
| Rodolphus Agricola | Roelof Huysman | Dutch | Intellectual | |
| Samuel Maresius | Samuel Des Marets | French | Intellectual | |
| Terence | Publius Terentius Afer | Latin | Artist (playwright) | |
| Theodore Beza | Théodore de Bèze | French | Religious figure | |
| Thomas Aquinas | Tommaso d'Aquino | Italian | Intellectual (philosopher) Religious figure (saint) | |
| Thomas à Kempis | Thomas Hammerlein | German | Intellectual (philosopher) Religious figure | Birth name, no longer used |
| Thomas Hemerkin | Dutch | Birth name, no longer used | ||
| Thomas van Kempen | Dutch | |||
| Thomas von Kempen | German | |||
| Titian | Tiziano Vecelli | Italian | Artist | |
| Tycho Brahe | Tyge Brahe | Danish | Intellectual (scientist) | |
| Virgil | Publius Vergilius Maro | Latin | Artist (poet) | |
| William of Salicet | Guglielmo da Saliceto | Italian | Intellectual (scientist) | |
| Zoroaster | Zarathustra | Avestan | Prophet |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ John R. Shook – Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers: Volume 1 – 2005 Page 2153 "He became a US citizen in 1941, thereafter spelling his name as Schoenberg."
- ^ Journal of the Kafka Society of America Kafka Society of America 2003 Volume 27, Nos 1 & 2 – Page 54 "To begin with false notes, the conventional recent practice among translators has been not to translate personal names, and we might therefore think of the transformation of the German Georg into an English George (Jolas, Beuscher, ."
- ^ Dava Sobel A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionised the Cosmos – Page 5 – 2011 "He was christened for his father — Mikolaj in Polish, Niklas in German, his native tongue. Later, as a scholar, he Latinized his name, but he grew up Niklas Koppernigk,"