"Why is AC Milan officially known as AC Milan, not Milano?" Inter's name is Internazionale Milano, Rome is Roma, Florence is Fiorentina, even Bayern is officially Bayern München. Yet Milan's name is written in English. Why?AC Milan's name is a legacy of its English origins. Like many fledgling Italian football clubs at the turn of the century, Milan were first conceived by a group of English expats - chief among them Nottingham native Herbert Kilpin and former British vice-consul Alfred Edwards. With the help of local industrialists, a group of Swiss footballers and Milan's Mediolanum gymnastic society, the Milan Cricket and Football Club was founded in 1899.
The club continued to operate under this name until 1939, when Mussolini's fascist government issued a diktat compelling Italian teams to drop all foreign words from their titles. Milan Cricket and Football Club therefore became Associazione Calcio Milano (a straight translation of "Milan Football Club" ). In 1945, with the war over and the fascists out of power, club chiefs decided not to rebrand all over again, but out of respect for their English founders tweaked their new name to become Associazione Calcio Milan.
Italians themselves actually refer to AC Milan as 'Milan' (pronounced in the James Richardson style of 'Meelan'), not 'AC Milan', which although technically correct is equivalent to always referring to, for instance, 'Arsenal FC' rather than just 'Arsenal'. Similarly their old rivals are known as 'Inter', and occasionally 'Internazionale' and very rarely 'FC Internazionale Milano' (their official title), but never 'Inter Milan'. This is an anglicisation and roughly equivalent to calling Everton: 'Everton Liverpool'.
Formed in 1908 by a group of players and officials who had split away from Milan, Inter were known as Football Club Internazionale until 1928, when they became Ambrosiana SS Milano following a merger with fellow Milanese club Unione Sportiva. A year later they became AS Ambrosiana, and in 1931 - following pressure from fans - AS Ambrosiania-Inter. After the war they reverted to their original name, but tacked 'Milano' on the end to become Football Club Internazionale Milano.
