Why the World Calls Him “Da Vinci”

“Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci” — Leonardo, son of Piero from Vinci.

Today I came across something interesting about Leonardo da Vinci, the legendary polymath who lived during the Renaissance.
He was born on April 15, 1452, and died on 2 May 1519.

His full name was Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, which literally means:

Leonardo, son of Piero from Vinci

The phrase “da Vinci” simply means “from Vinci”, referring to a small town near Florence in the Republic of Florence (Repubblica Fiorentina).

What’s fascinating is that the entire world now calls him “Da Vinci”,
as if “Vinci” were his family name — but in reality, it’s just where he was born.

Imagine if a brilliant person were born in Taipei,
and the whole world started calling them “Taipei” instead of their real name.
That’s essentially what happened with Leonardo da Vinci.

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小結

李奧納多的名字其實代表了他的出身：

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci = 李奧納多，皮耶羅之子，來自文西城。

但世人卻以他的出生地「文西」來稱呼他。
這樣的現象不僅反映語言習慣，也讓我們看到歷史如何在傳播中重新塑造一個人的名字與身份。