Nome di Battaglia (Battle Name)

In the autumn of ’43, a Jewish youth fled from Milano with his parents and sister and arrived at Lago d’Orta among partisans led by Filippo Maria Beltrami. The youth, who had just turned 18, introduced himself, “My name is Guido. We are Jewish. We arrived yesterday.” Guido continues: “From this introduction, it is certain, my name da partigiano was derived: Guido l’Ebreo.” At first, he was offended that the partisans would refer to him in much the same way as had the fascists. But before long he discovered that virtually no one among the partisans used his or her real first name, let alone surname, for obvious reasons. The simple act of calling out to one’s buddy during an action, using his real name, would put his family in danger.

The “birth” of a partisan and the leaving behind (for the most part) of community and family, happened via a rite of assimilation into this new world during which the recruit took a new identity; a nome di battaglia. At times imposed, but more often freely chosen, battle names served to seal away one’s real identity and to fulfill specific cultural and symbolic functions. These names often evoked thoughts of a new and fantastic universe where anything might be possible, a remarkable feat for people who had spent 20 years, often their entire life, under the boot of Fascism.

A few interesting statistics regarding the battle names of some 64,000 Piemontese partisans whose nomi di battaglia are known:

• The 13 most popular names were typical Italian given names. The English given name Tom was 14th, Lupo (wolf) 15th, and Fulmine (lightning) came in at 16th.
• Around 25% used their own given name (including diminutives) or a nickname.
• Other names arose from literature, history, popular culture (especially American culture), and from animals.
• Duplicate names were often handled by sequential numeration (Beppe II, Romeo XIV, etc.).

Names were also taken from words in the local dialect, from everyday expressions and exclamations, from foods, and from personal traits (real, imagined, hoped for, or downright satirical). One garibaldino operating in the vicinity of Lago Maggiore, described as tall, with a large forehead, bushy eyebrows, crooked teeth, and a long scar on one cheek was given the name “Frankenstein.”