Early life
Ronaldo was born in Santo António, a neighbourhood of Funchal, Madeira, the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, a cook, and José Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener.[22] His second given name, "Ronaldo", was chosen after then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who was his father's favourite actor. He has one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia.[1] His great-grandmother Isabel da Piedade was from Cape Verde.[23]
The family was staunchly Catholic. Ronaldo later claimed that he lived in poverty, sharing a room with his brother and sisters.[24] Ronaldo was popular with other students at school, but he was expelled after he threw a chair at his teacher. Ronaldo later said of the incident, "He disrespected me".[25] At age 14, Ronaldo agreed with his mother to focus entirely on football. He states, "When I got to 14 I felt I had the potential. I thought I was maybe good enough at that time to play semi-professionally".[25]