Capone

Notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone may not seem like a worthy namesake, but parents have been using his surname for their sons since 1996. In English, we pronounce Capone with two syllables, but the authentic Italian pronunciation is cah-POH-neh.

Capone has two separate origins. The first is from the Italian word capo, meaning "head." Capone was likely used as a nickname for someone with a "big head," meaning "arrogant" in the figurative sense. It may also be an occupational surname from the word capon, referring to a castrated chicken. From this derivation, Capone would have denoted someone who raised chickens, or was possibly a mean-spirited nickname for a cuckold. No matter how you slice it, you can't escape negative associations with this name.

Pronounced kuh-POHN.

As of October 2026, Capone ranked #12359 for boys in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #5026 for boys in 2007.