Nickname Milione

In the Republic of Venice's archives, Marco Polo is most frequently referred to as Marco Paulo de confined Sancti Iohannis Grisostomi, or Marco Polo of the Contrada of St. John Chrysostom Church.

But throughout his life, he also went by the nickname Milione, which is Italian for "Million." His book was titled Il Libro di Marco Polo detto il Milione, which translates to "The Book of Marco Polo, dubbed "Milione"" in Italian. The 15th-century humanist Giovanni Battista Ramusio claimed that when he returned to Venice, his fellow citizens gave him the moniker because he insisted that Kublai Khan's wealth was measured in millions. He was referred to as Messer Marco Milioni in more detail (Mr. Marco Millions).

Luigi Foscolo Benedetto, a 19th-century philologist, was persuaded that Milione was a shortened version of Emilione and that this nickname was used to distinguish Niccol's and Marco's branch of the Polo family from other Polo families because both Niccol and his father were known by the nickname.