Edith Giovanna Gassion

9.5

The birth name of the French singer Édith Piaf

proper noun

: Edith Giovanna Gassion

Edith Giovanna Gassion is better known as Édith Piaf.

Examples

Few people know that Edith Giovanna Gassion was better known to the world as Édith Piaf.
The biography traced the early life of Edith Giovanna Gassion before she became a star.
Under her birth name, Edith Giovanna Gassion had a modest start in Paris.
The famous singer, Edith Giovanna Gassion, was born in Paris.
Few people know that Edith Giovanna Gassion was better known to the world as Édith Piaf.
The biography traced the early life of Edith Giovanna Gassion before she became a star.
Under her birth name, Edith Giovanna Gassion had a modest start in Paris.

Synonyms

Edith Piaf

vsEdith Giovanna Gassion

3 6.3

A famous French singer who sang powerful emotional songs

is the original legal name given at birth rather than the stage name

Surface Forms

Edith Giovanna Gassion main

Morphology

Edith + Giovanna + Gassion

This item is a proper personal name composed of three given/family names; knowing the individual name tokens only signals that it is a person's name but does not let a learner infer the specific referent or the fact that it is Édith Piaf's birth name. Proper names are non-compositional and culturally specific, so the full meaning cannot be derived from the constituent words.

Etymology

Edith Giovanna Gassion was the singer's real name before she became known as Édith Piaf. She later chose the stage name that meant 'little sparrow' because of her small size and strong voice, so the birth name points to the woman who became the famous singer.