Tonio

Tonio is a masculine given name, typically a diminutive of Antonio or Antonius. It is used in Italian and Spanish-speaking contexts and, less commonly, as an independent given name in German- and Dutch-speaking regions. The name is related to variants such as Antonio, Anton, and Tony, with Toni as another common short form in some languages.

In culture and literature, Tonio appears in several notable works. In Thomas Mann’s novella Tonio Kröger (1903), Tonio is the title character, a young artist who wrestles with his artistic ambitions and his bourgeois upbringing. In the world of opera, Tonio is a character in Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (1892); he is a clown within the troupe who informs Canio of Nedda’s infidelity, helping to drive the drama of the plot.

As a given name, Tonio can be found across Italian, Spanish, and German-speaking contexts, often used without further expansion as a standalone name. The name carries no single association beyond these cultural usages and tends to appear in both historical and contemporary settings, reflecting its status as a familiar, regional variant of Antonio.