Why does Alonso Quixano rename himself Don Quixote?

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Engraving of Miguel de Cervantes, shown with a mustache and beard, wearing a ruffled collar and cloak, based on works by Gregorio Ferro and Fernando Selma. — Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes, engraving by E. Mackenzie after Gregorio Ferro and Fernando Selma; from *The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography* (1863).

Alonso Quixano renames himself Don Quixote because he becomes obsessed with reading chivalric romances. Driven by these stories, the aging minor nobleman decides to revive the custom of knighthood and become a hero himself.123

By adopting the name Don Quixote, he assumes the identity of a knight-errant and sets out from his home in La Mancha to seek adventure, mistakenly viewing the mundane world through the lens of the romantic tales that have bemused his mind.12