My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Baby names

Italian Baby Boy

33 replies

PrincessMarm · 13/01/2020 11:39

Myself and my partner cannot decide on a name for our little one (due end of Feb). He is Italian (so baby will have an Italian surname) but I am Welsh and would like to incorporate someway.

We have decided we will have a middle name (none of his family do) in order to compromise.

We are trying to think of names that can be pronounced by both of our families.

What are people's thought on the following:

Jacopo (pronounced Yacopo) Jac for short
Nicolo - Nico for short
Romeo
Dylan or Rhodri (middle name)

:)

OP posts:
Report
sel2223 · 13/01/2020 12:03

I love Nico

Report
MikeUniformMike · 13/01/2020 12:11

Jacopo (pronounced Yacopo) Jac for short - not keen. Another Jac when Jack is so popular.
Nicolo - Nico for short - ok, but Nico is also used as a girl's name, and I am more familiar with the name Nicola for an italian man. It's ok but I'd go for Nico as the full name.
Romeo - Beckham association.

Dylan - yuk. The name is fine for welsh speakers but the Dillun pronunciation is horrid..
Rhodri - ok. Not keen on the non-welsh pronunciation.

If you don't speak Welsh, I suggest David as a middle name.
If you do speak Welsh, nico is a bit of an insult.

Report
Grufallosfriends · 13/01/2020 12:12

Romeo is a great name and one that's pronounced the same in most languages! Strong and masculine too.

Report
PlantPotting · 13/01/2020 12:33

I love Nick or Dylan

Report
benandhollyagaaain · 13/01/2020 12:34

Nico wins for me

Report
MamaBearThius · 13/01/2020 12:35

We have an Italian surname and our baby was going to be Vincent (baby Vinnie) if a boy

Report
ElphiasDoge · 13/01/2020 12:38

Nicole/Nico is lovely.

I love Rhodri but depends how upset you’ll be about it being pronounced wrongly.

What about Ianto or Iolo?

Report
massistar · 13/01/2020 12:38

Italian DH and surname living in Wales here...

We went for Luca as it can't be mispronounced in English v Italian.. Unlike Romeo, Niccolo or Jacapo.

Report
ElphiasDoge · 13/01/2020 12:39

Nicolo sorry. Probably wouldn’t go with Nicole but it’s your baby!

Report
PrincessMarm · 13/01/2020 12:57

Thank you everyone :) It is such a difficult decision; I guess we will just 'know' when he's born :)

@MikeUniformMike I do speak Welsh actually, my brothers are named Ieuan, Tomos Llewellyn and Lloyd.

Also, my partners name is Davide so would not want to name him the same and do not like the name David.

Romeo has nothing to do with Beckham, I hadn't even thought of that.. We were in just Verona whilst discussing names...

@ElphiasDoge my partner can actually pronounce it quite well as they also roll their 'R's in Italian.

@massistar my partner has a huge family and a lot of first cousins with names we are trying to avoid. Luca is one of those!

OP posts:
Report
MikeUniformMike · 13/01/2020 13:51

@PrincessMarm, Love your brothers' names.
Vincente is quite nice, Vin as a nn Wine

Jacapo - I hear welsh people saying it as Jac Appo. Jac is quite popular in Wales.

Report
Lavenderblues · 13/01/2020 13:55

Romeo is a great classic name that is pronounced similarly in Italian and English.

I hadn't thought of the Beckhams at all. Who cares about that anyway, they're not mass murderers or anything Grin

Report
MikeUniformMike · 13/01/2020 15:05

@Levenderblues,
Romeo in English is ROME-ee-o
Romeo in Italian is Rom-AY-o

Report
Lavenderblues · 13/01/2020 15:37

Oh ok, so the emphasis is slightly different. But it's still a well known name in both languages.

Unlike Jacobo for example, which is unfamiliar to most English speakers.

Report
MikeUniformMike · 13/01/2020 15:46

It's quite different. The name is known in both languages, which is a plus.
Romeo is not that nice a term in English.

Report
travellover · 13/01/2020 15:52

Nicolo and Romeo are so nice Smile

Report
GryffinDora · 13/01/2020 16:02

What about Cosmo? So cool!

Report
massistar · 13/01/2020 17:06

Niccolo will be mangled by English/Welsh speakers and Romeo isn't pronounced the same. Just depends how much it'll annoy you!

What about Marco? Gianni? Gianluca? Antonio (Nino)? There's a lot more of a chance in Italian of it clashing with a family member's name as they tend to stick with traditional names so less choice.

Report
MikeUniformMike · 13/01/2020 19:53

Matteo is nice, and could be Matt when older.

Report
AlpacaGoodnight · 13/01/2020 20:16

Nico or Romeo! I know a Romeo and everyone always commented on how much they loved his name!

Report
NameChange30 · 13/01/2020 20:20

"He is Italian (so baby will have an Italian surname)"

Why don't you give your child your own surname? You are carrying and birthing the baby - and presumably raising it together with your partner? Dare I say you might even intend to be the primary carer?

You could give the baby both surnames.

Don't just give the baby an Italian first name and surname, it should have at least one name to reflect its heritage on the mother's side too.

Report
littlealexhorne · 13/01/2020 21:16

I love Romeo, and, like PPs have suggested, everyone will know how to pronounce and spell it. I like Matteo too

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

Ellmau · 14/01/2020 00:03

Jac as short for Jacopo - wouldn't that be pronounced Yak? I'm not sure that would work.

I quite like Romeo of your choices. Through pronounced differently in Italian and English. Romano?

Lorenzo
Antonio
Francesco
Filippo
Cristiano
Carlo

Report
TheCanterburyWhales · 14/01/2020 11:23

I prefer Nicolo of your choices- though you'd have to settle on which spelling variation you prefer (Nicolo' or Niccolo) Nicola is much more old fashioned and ubiquitous- it was very popular particularly about 15-20 years ago.
Romeo is more of a surname, I have never met an Italian male with Romeo as a first name.
I like Rhodri and Ianto and no Italian would have trouble pronouncing either, I don't know how modern/traditional/old-fashioned they are in Welsh though. (Giovanni, for example has been named after his grandfather and is never going to be chosen by an Italian these days for any other reason)
Luca was, for years, the most popular Italian name and there are about 4 in every class.

Report
GRW · 14/01/2020 11:56

Someone I know with an Italian husband has called their son Gennaro.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.