Do we know why he changed his name?
Both Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton have names different from the names on their birth certificates.
Ford was named Leslie King when born. His mother remarried and he was adopted by new husband Mr. Ford, resulting in his name change to Gerald Ford.
Clinton grew up named Bill Blythe. His mother remarried Mr.Clinton, and Bill Blythe became Bill Clinton.
Just saying that some people have different names then the ones on their birth certificates.
Did de Blasio change his name to identify with the big community of people of Italian descent in New York? I would wonder if it was a political move on his part.
All I know is he changed it as an adult.
Yes, I think he changed his uber-German name so he wouldn’t alienate the Jewish population. Apparently, he’s half Italian-American but he’s a disgrace to that nice community.
Here’s what Wiki has to say:
DeBlasio speaking: “He (DeBlasio’s father, Warren Wilhelm) was an alcoholic, and my mother and father broke up very early on in the time I came along, and I was brought up by my mother’s family—that’s the bottom line—the de Blasio family.”
In 1983, he changed his name to Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm, which he described in April 2012: “I started by putting the name into my diploma, and then I hyphenated it legally when I finished NYU, and then, more and more, I realized that was the right identity.” By the time he appeared on the public stage in 1990, he was using the name Bill de Blasio as he explained he had been called “Bill” or “Billy” in his personal life. He did not legally change over to this new name until 2002, when the discrepancy was noted during an election.
Article also says he speaks Italian. Not sure if the change was really out of wanting to honor the DeBlasio side of his heritage or to further identify with NYC’s large Italian population....