Michele Bachmann is catching flack for referring to Antonin Scalia as Anthony Scalia. I don't like Michelle Bachmann, but her mistake is understandable.
I come from a family with Anthonys, Antonios, Antonins, Antoninos and Ninos.
In my genealogical research, I found many records in the US, and some going back to Italy, that conflict in the variant uses of this name. A couple of years ago, I asked my mother if her brother Tony's name on his birth and baptismal certificates is Antonin, Antonio or Antonino. She didn't know. He went by Anthony, but I'm sure that wasn't the name on his birth certificate. And his birth certificate may have conflicted with his baptismal certificate, as it did for my father, who uses yet a third name in every day conversation.
Assimilation is messy.
My mother's birth name is an Italian name, but she always used the English version of her name, and that's what appears on all legal documents after her birth. I was given the English version of my grandfather's name. He used both the English and Italian versions of his name during his lifetime, as all my grandparents did. Relatives frequently addressed me using the Italian version of my name, especially when I was very young. Not surprising because most of them were code switchers.
Recently, I asked an Italian-American friend if her late father's real name was Anthony, Antonin, Antonio or Antonino. I always knew him as Nino. It was her own father and she didn't know the answer to my question.
So if a Scandinavian-American woman who grew up in Iowa gets a bit confused, it's no big deal.
Below is part of my grandfather's naturalization record. My uncle was listed as Antonino that day. On another day, they might have called him something else. On the same form, my grandmother is listed as "Rosina." Never heard anyone call her Rosina in my life. She was Rose or Rosa. The latter is the name used in this birth certificate issued by her Italian hometown in 1961. Rose, Rosina, Rosa, Rosalia, Rosaria, Rosa Maria, Rosemary ... got 'em all in the family and they're all part of one naming cluster passed down through the family for hundreds of years.

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