Page "Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz" Paragraph 1

Kekulé never used his first given name ; he was known throughout his life as August Kekulé.

After he was ennobled by the Kaiser in 1895, he adopted the name August Kekule von Stradonitz, without the French acute accent over the second " e ".

The French accent had apparently been added to the name by Kekulé's father during the Napoleonic occupation of Hesse by France, in order to ensure that French speakers pronounced the third syllable.