A male name. Italian Neapoleone or Napoleone, apparently a derivative of Neapolis (Naples); the name of a 4th-C saint martyred at Alexandria. It was used by the Orsini and other It families in the Middle Ages and later, though it was never common. Napoleone Buonaparte gallicized his name as Napoléon Bonaparte. His name has not often been used in France either in his lifetime or later; dictators in general seem to discourage the use of their own names, e.g German parents were advised against calling their ss. Adolf. There have been a few examples of its use in England.

Greek, ‘one who belongs to the new city (neapolis).’ From an Alexandrian martyr (early C4), the name was adopted, in C12, by the noble Orsini family at Rome. Thence it spread to other parts of Italy and to Corsica. In late C18 Napoleon Bonaparte took it to France: on the great soldier-statesman’s death in 1821, English pity and admiration caused the name to be adopted, in strict moderation, in Britain.

Found several times as a baptismal name. From the French name Napoléon, properly Napoleóne, which has been translated ‘of the new city.’ But this is probably a guess, unless indeed Ajaccio was ever called Napoli in contradistinction to the ancient town of Adjacium, which stood on rising ground above the present site. The probable meaning of the name is ‘lion of the wood;’ from Greek λεων a lion, ναπη var. a wooded valley, a valley between mountains, a mountain glade, a thicket, grove, wood, forest, ravine. The nickname is Nap.

A Greek name, meaning: Of the new city: or, dividing the name Napoeon, it has been interpreted to mean lion from the forest.