Are these names too pretentious?

Lovely lovely names and go perfectly with your Italian heritage
I'd definitely go for one of the Italian ones though rather than Alice as you wouldnt want the poor wee thing feeling left out!

Love Carlotta and Enzo

lovely names, not at all pretentious given your background.

Far better than Giulia, which gives non-Italianates nightmares to spell (they always seem to end up spelling it Guilia , which would obviously be pronounced Gweelia instead of Julia) - we had one at our school and no one could spell it right, poor girl.

Both lovely names and not hard to spell for the xenophobic. Go for it!

There have been some truly shocking Baby Names threads this week (honestly someone wants to call a baby Kenneth!! ) so these two seem relatively nice to me!

i have italian first and middle names, even though there was no italian connection in my family (until i moved there as an adult), my parents just liked the names.

i was the only one with my name at both primary and secondary school, but i don't remember ever feeling weird about having a 'foreign' name.

i think both names are lovely, but then i also like Viola (although it would annoy me if people pronounced it Vy-ola)!

I like both.

I have an Italian name (not one of those) which I like. It is not particularly common in England which is great, and spices up my spectacularly boring surname (very English).

Recently someone got v v v embarrassed when they asked what my maiden name had been before I got my "boring married name" -I have never changed my name but DH's surname is even worse than mine but he has other great qualities

hmm i was at uni with a Giovanna - she elected to be called "Gio". She was a bit of a bitch actually, sorry!
I love Alice.

Lovely names but Alice is my all time fave

Both lovely. I particularly like Giovanna. I knew a beautiful girl with this name growing up and it was shortened to Giovi, pronounced 'Jo-vee' in an Italian accent . So pretty.

not at all, they are both lovely. And with the family connection you are fine! Even without it, it may be ok

• how did you yourself feel having a French name although your parents were not French? I think most people would not worry about that at all.

fab names

Totally love Italian names. My DH worked for a few years in Italy and we lived there when the DC started school. My DD's have gorgeous Italian names and everyone loves them. Carlotta and Giovanna are beautiful but be aware that in England most people will pronounce Gee-o-vanna. Love Gaia too, so many lovely names to go with your Italian surname. Lucky you, good luck

hassled - that is exactly the character that i thought of in the enid blyton series when i saw the name Carlotta. i love it.... and i LOVE enid blyton....my daughter won't go near her....damn jacqueline wilson....

I quite like Carlotta.

yeah, you'd get away with it

Hi Head I'm the equivalent of a plastic italian having lived there studied it and with brown hair to boot! So I am jealous of your dcs and their italian sirnames. DP's sirname is totally horrendous and goes with nothing. it's so bad people laugh when i tell them and tell me to always keep mine.

I know a gorgeous lovely girl from genoa called Carlotta. I also really like Viola, with the italian pronunciation.

not at all pretentious names. I love Enzo too!
And Alice is v pretty and not too popular i don't think.

italian and argentinian - i'm nearly passing out with envy at your heritage!

lovely names not pretentious

very likely to be shortened but that is ok isnt it? lotta and gio nice too?

With the background, I think they are both lovely, and could be abbreviated if so wished.

Oh, yes Enzo has no teeth and one of those Sicilian beret things....

(now Enzo's mother is going to crop up and batter me)

Lol headfairy As you say- you are entitled! Apologies for my example!

I'm definitely coming round to preferring Giovanna to Carlotta. (also because there is a Carlotta in dd's nursery class and I can't see her being glam when she's older bless her, and we've established that all Giovannas are!!)

I think both are lovely and totally acceptable with your heritage.
If they want something more British as a nickname then they could chose Anna or Carly for example but the full names are beautiful IMO.

"I went to school with a girl called giovanna now I think about it, (her Dad was Italian) and she was also impossibly glam...."

It is the same with my cousin, and her daughter is going exactly in the same direction . There should be something about that name...

I do think you need some sort of furrin roots to carry it off classily though...I went to school with a girl called giovanna now I think about it, (her Dad was Italian) and she was also impossibly glam....I like Gianna too (my Mum's sister is called Joanna, but has always been Janna to us all, and dp is always bemused that mad Aunty has Italian name)

I do loathe this Luca thing though.....when it's people just wanting to be "different".

I know a totally 100% in Italy little girl called Whitney which is similarly

Same here, I hated my name as a child but as soon as I was past primary school, I immediatly realised of the benefits , it also helped my career a good deal (I'm the arts type)