a curiosity about Pilates, the man

Joseph H. Pilates was born in Germany, in 1880, to parents of Greek and German ancestry. His father was a prize-winning gymnast of Greek origin and his mother a naturopath of German origin. His name was originally spelled by its Greek derivation "Pilatu" but was changed to Pilates. This caused him much grief because, as a child, older boys taunted him calling him "Pontius Pilate, killer of Christ".