Galileo Galilei, why?

Foreign Banana Grower   Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:50 am GMT
Why is Galileo Galilei referred to exclusively as Galileo, his first name? Isn't it convention to refer to people by their surnames? Why not Albert (Einstein), or Isaac (Newton)?

It's silly if you ask me. Why not Galilei?
j   Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:46 am GMT
<<Isn't it convention to refer to people by their surnames?>>
I don't know.
Here is another example: Amadeus = Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Foreign Banana Grower   Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:55 am GMT
I've never heard that before, I've only seen him referred to as Mozart.

Another semi-example is Saddam (Hussein), alhtough this is fairly informal, whereas even in professional publications it is Galileo, not Galilei.
Kendra   Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:59 am GMT
Dante (Alighieri)
Guest   Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:17 am GMT
The reason is that Albert and Isaac and common names so people might not know you were talking about the scientists if you said their first names, but Galileo is a more unique name.
j   Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:22 am GMT
<<Foreign Banana Grower
I've never heard that before, I've only seen him referred to as Mozart.>>

'Amadeus is the title of a stage play written in 1979 by Peter Shaffer, loosely based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. Amadeus was inspired by Mozart and Salieri, a short play by Aleksandr Pushkin ... and was itself later adapted into the film Amadeus.

The title refers to a name that Mozart often used (he was baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart) as a pen name. It is a Latinization of the Greek Theophilos...'

Wikipedia 'Amadeus'
Foreign Banana Grower   Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:24 am GMT
But that's the name of a work. I could write a book and call it "George" referring to the Mr. Shrub.
j   Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:30 am GMT
Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo...
j   Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:34 am GMT
<But that's the name of a work. I could write a book and call it "George" referring to the Mr. Shrub.>

Please, read carefully the extract from Wikipedija:
'The title refers to a name that Mozart often used'

Mozart himself ised it, the people around him used it probably too
Phil   Sat Apr 28, 2007 10:04 am GMT
I may be wrong but I think Leonardo Da Vinci means Leonardo of/from Vinci so potentially there could be lots of Da Vinci's in that area of Italy. You'd be there all day shouting "Mr Da Vinci....no not you, the other one...no the guy on the other side..."

Maybe Galilei was a popular name back in the old days?

I always call Mozart "Mozart" despite him being the only Amadeus I have ever heard of.
Guest   Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:21 pm GMT
Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, Titien, Giotto, etc.

On the other hand there are: Botticelli, Caravaggio, Coreggio, Fontana, Giorgione, Masaccio, Piero della Francesca, Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Veronese etc. etc. etc.
There is no a fixed rule
Guest   Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:42 pm GMT
<<Why is Galileo Galilei referred to exclusively as Galileo, his first name? Isn't it convention to refer to people by their surnames? Why not Albert (Einstein), or Isaac (Newton)?>>

In Western Europe in the middle ages and renaissance period, family names, nicknames, or numerals (nobility) were only used to distinguish persons of note from others with similar given names. If you were the only Michelangelo in town to make a name for yourself, then 'Michelangelo' is what the rest of the world will know you as. But if you're Michelangelo Caravaggio following in the heels of the earlier Michelangelo...