Anti-fascist writer and political leader Ignazio Silone, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times, was born in central Italy in 1900.
His birth name was Secondino Tranquilli; he wrote under a pseudonym to protect himself and his family from fascist persecution.
How did he get the first name Secondino?
Silone’s father, presenting himself at the town hall a day after his son’s birth, wished to enter the patriotic names of Mameli or Cairoli as Silone’s given name but the mayor objected: They were not recognized Christian names. Exasperated, Paolo Tranquilli replied that they should give the infant the acceptable name of the mayor, Severino, but the town secretary, present in his official capacity, offered his own, Secondino, and so Silone was burdened with a name that roughly translates in the local dialect as “jailer.”
“Mameli” and “Cairoli” refer to Italian patriot Goffredo Mameli and Italian politician Benedetto Cairoli, respectively.
(The name Secondino can also refer to any of several Catholic saints, or simply be used for second-born children.)
Sources:
- Pugliese, Stanislao G. Bitter spring: a life of Ignazio Silone. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009.
- Ignazio Silone – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Silone1 (public domain)
[Latest update: Apr. 2025]