Definition: Bonaparte is the surname of a family who came to the fore of French politics in the nineteenth century. The family were originally Corsicans of Italian descent called the Buonapartes, but changed their name to the French version, Bonaparte, when they were forced to flee France in 1793. Shortly after one son, Napoleon Bonaparte, rose to become first Consul and then Emperor of France, playing the key role in the Napoleonic Wars. He was forced into exile after final defeat at Waterloo in 1815, and his son, Napoleon Bonaparte II, lost his position as heir. The name Napoleon Bonaparte rose to prominence again in 1850, when Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, a descendant of one of Napoleon I’s brothers, became first President of the Second French Republic, and then in 1852, Emperor of France as Napoleon III. After military failures he was overthrown by a bloodless coup in 1870.
Examples: Carlo's death in 1785, well before the use of Bonaparte became even remotely common, may also have been an enabling factor.
