Adonis was born Giuseppe Antonio Doto in the small town of Montemarano, in the Province of Avellino, near Naples, Italy, to Michele and Maria Doto. In the early 1920's, Doto started calling himself "Joe Adonis" (Adonis was the Greek god of beauty and desire). It is uncertain as to what inspired his nickname. One story states that Adonis received this nickname from a Ziegfeld Follies chorus girl who was dating him. Another story says that Adonis adopted the name after reading a magazine article on Greek mythology.