Leonardo DiCaprio sitting on the sand in scene from the film 'The Beach', 2000. (Photo by 20th Century-Fox/Getty Images)

Leonardo DiCaprio is a grand name very befitting of a Hollywood star, and the story behind how he got it is quite charming.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 19: Leonardo DiCaprio speaks onstage during the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. 721359 (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for Turner)


As for his surname, DiCaprio’s father, George DiCaprio, is a half-Italian comic book artist and distributor, though most of DiCaprio’s immediate ancestry is German (his middle name is Wilhelm) and Russian, with the actor having previously described himself as “half-Russian”.

Til Leonardo DiCaprio was named Leonardo because his pregnant mother was looking at a Leonardo da Vinci painting in a museum in Italy when he first kicked.