Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Casa Buonaparte in the town of Ajaccio, Corsica, on the 15th of August 1769. This was one year after the island was given to France by the Republic of Genoa. He was the second of eight children. He was named "Napoleone di Buonaparte". He took his first name from an uncle who had been killed fighting the French. However, he later used the more French-sounding "Napoléon Bonaparte".