You may not have known it, but the actor influenced his mother on the choice of his first name even before he was born. What happened…
The American actor, producer, screenwriter and documentary maker has fascinated the world since his revelation in Titanic and Romeo and Juliet in 1997. Aviator, The Departed, Inception, The Revenant, The Wolf of Wall Street…. The successes keep coming for Leonardo DiCaprio who recently turned fifty. If his fans know everything about him, few people are aware of how his first name was chosen. Because originally, his mother – Irmelin Indenbirken – had planned a completely different first name for her son. So what made him change his mind?
Initially, his mother wanted to name her son Wilhem, which is a tribute to the actor’s maternal grandfather. Leonardo should therefore have been called Wilhem DiCaprio, a first name of German origin which means “will” and “protection”. But as it was close to his heart, Irmelin still wanted to give it to him as a middle name (Leonardo Wilhem DiCaprio). Of course, when we say the first name Leonardo, we immediately think of the famous Renaissance painter, Leonardo da Vinci. This visionary artist also had nothing to do with the choice of the actor’s first name.
In fact, when her mother was pregnant, she took the opportunity to take a little trip to a museum in Italy. And while she was admiring a work by Leonardo da Vinci, she felt kicks for the very first time. For her, it was a sign! It’s a bit as if the baby had chosen his own first name.
And that’s not all: if Leonardo DiCaprio reacted in utero to the painter, this can also be seen as a harbinger of his appetite for contemporary art! He knows where to find the most beautiful pieces and regularly participates in auctions. What if a simple kick had marked his destiny?
