Megan Rapinoe

07/14/2015 – Megan Rapinoe – ESPN Hosts “Body at ESPYs” 2015 Espy Awards Pre-Party – Arrivals – Milk Studios, 855 N Cahuenga Boulevard – Los Angeles, CA, USA – Photo Credit: PRPhotos.com 

Birth Name: Megan Anna Rapinoe

Place of Birth: Redding, Shasta, California, United States

Date of Birth: July 5, 1985

Ethnicity: Italian (one quarter), Irish, English

Megan Rapinoe is an American professional soccer player, and activist. She is a winger for OL Reign of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), as well as for the U.S. national team; and has co-captained the latter. She has also played for the Chicago Red Stars, Philadelphia Independence, MagicJack, Sydney FC, Seattle Sounders Women, and Olympique Lyonnais. She won gold with the U.S. team at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, and played with the team when they won the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cups. In 2019, Megan won the Ballon d’Or Féminin, and, at FIFA, was named Best FIFA Women’s Player, as well as won the Golden Boot and won the Golden Ball. She is the first player of any gender to score a goal directly from a corner at the Olympic Games. She is an advocate for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Athlete Ally.

Megan is the daughter of Denise and Jim Rapinoe. Her twin sister, Rachael Rapinoe, is also a soccer player, who played as a midfielder and a forward.

The family name was originally Rapino.

Megan’s paternal grandfather was John Joseph “Jack” Rapinoe (the son of Michael R. Rapino and Lucille L. Lepore). Jack was born in Pennsylvania. Michael was the son of Giovanni Antonio “John” Rapino and Teresa Casalanguida, who were from Lanciano, Provincia di Chieti, Abruzzo, Italy. The name Casalanguida translates to “languid house.” Lucille was the daughter of Giuseppe Michael “Joseph” Lepore, who was born in Ripacandida, Provincia di Potenza, Basilicata, Italy, and of Josephine Pierlato, who was also Italian.

Megan’s paternal grandmother was Irene Eli Birmingham (the daughter of John J. Birmingham and Elizabeth Madden). Irene was born in Illinois, to Irish parents.

Megan’s maternal grandfather’s surname was Kimball.

Megan’s Irish ancestors were from Treanacally and Kilrooskey.

Source: Family history of Megan Rapinoe, by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak – https://medium.com

7 Responses

  1. andrew says:

    Irene Eli Rapinoe was born in Illinois, to John Birmingham and Elizabeth Madden.

  2. jackson9 says:

    I was in a dilemma. Should I root for my countries team even though they clearly don’t like the flag and national anthem? Why represent the U.S. if they have this disdain?

    • jackson9 says:

      Why? Because they are exercising their 1st amendment rights? Burning the American flag is also protected speech in America but I wouldn’t call that patriotic either.

  3. andrew says:

    Megan’s paternal grandfather was John Joseph “Jack” Rapinoe (the son of Michael R. Rapino and Lucille L. Lepore). Jack was born in Pennsylvania. Michael was the son of Giovanni Antonio “John” Rapino and Teresa Casalanguida, who were from Lanciano, Provincia di Chieti, Abruzzo, Italy. Lucille was the daughter of Giuseppe Michael “Joseph” Lepore, who was born in Ripacandida, Provincia di Potenza, Basilicata, Italy, and of Josephine Pierlato, who was also Italian.

    Megan’s paternal grandmother was named Irene E.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.