Italian baby name Giulio

[muffintop1]

We are thinking of naming our son Giulio. My DH is Italian but we live in England. Do you think this will be too tricky to spell and pronounce? I really like it.

Has he an Italian surname?

Do you pronounce it Jee-OO-lee-oh or Hee-OO-lee-oh?

Hi I really like it. Its very unusual but cute and it has some meaning. I'm new here I posted a Q would you be able to comment on it just so I know I've done it right lol I have no idea what I'm doing its my first day on here x

Skoda neither. It's joo-lee-oh. The 'I' is only there to make a soft 'g' sound but as there are relatively few Italian speakers in the UK few people realise this. It's the same reason that you hear 'ciabatta' mispronounced as 'chee-a-bat-a' - it's simply 'cha-bat-a' and the 'I' isn't pronounced.

OP, it's lovely, but be warned that almost no-one will know how to spell or pronounce it. I went to school with a Giulia and everyone, teachers included, persistently misspelled it as 'Guilia' and pronounced it with a hard 'g'.

I think its a nice name although people will get the spelling and pron wrong I am afraid.
Therefore the lad might suffer from people thinking it amusing to pron his name with a hard G and it will be reminiscent of goolies? do people still use that word?
do you live in a city or in the country/small town?

I think it's very nice.

Thanks for the Italian lesson!

I like it a lot now I know how to pronounce it. I never understand how people react in horror to names they don't know, just ask how to pronounce it!

Lovely, OP.

I like it. There is a Giulio in dds class no one struggles with it and everyone pronounces it correctly. My family is italian my four children all have italian names but I was conscious not to chose anything too unusual as mine is very italian and unusual and everyone always gets it wrong.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. We both love the name, and I suppose if people misspell it as Julio it's not the end of the world. I wanted to choose something that is Italian, but not too tricky. To cope with.

Yes. Meant to say. Very Italian surname!

Kids will get it because they hear a name before they read it.

I would be tempted to find something that works in both languages unless you intend to spend most of your time in Italy.

Having said that, it is a great name.

All the Italians I know who live 'abroad' have gone for names that are 'local' but can be 'italianized' - so George/Georgio, Paul/Paulo, Alexander/Alessandro, Matthew/Matteo, Natalie/Natalia... My son even gets an Italian version with his pals!

The thinking is that with an Italian surname, they won't have a lifetime of 'do you speak English?' 'When did you move here then?' And 'gosh, you speak English well!'. DH still gets this and has chosen to be amused by it.

Thanks. Those are good points to consider. I do like Giorgio, but DH doesn't. I'd prefer something a little unusual. Sergio is another one I like. (Love Sergio Mendes!).

I think it's a great name. I wouldn't pick an 'local' name to be 'italianised' either. I have a Bolivian friend and he hates it when he is called the anglicised version of his name. The world is a multicultural enough place that people can deal with names from other languages

It is crap when people assume you can't speak English though!

We are feeling more and more happy with the sound of Giulio. I agree that nowadays we live in such a multicultural world that it is not really likely to be a "burden" of a name. My sister was saying he could be called "Giuls" like Jools as a nickname. I am really glad you have helped us think it over.

Giulio would work fine in the UK I think.

Came across a toddler Giuseppe in Cardiff recently.

My Italian boyfriend at 17 was Giulio and so I naturally love it. I was told by everyone in Italy it is considered a very Roman name (he was from Roma) and is of course the Italian version of the man we all know as Julius Caesar.

FWIW we are in Germany and one of our daughters is called Georgina. The soft 'G' or J doesn't exist in German so initially at school her teachers were trying to call her Gay-org-geena (remember in the Sound of Music the father's name Georg is pronounced Gay-org).

Anyway, they soon got used to it and she has no trouble over here - they also were familiar with Gina so that helped. Children find it no problem - it's adults that have to get used to the 'J'.

My point is, people will get it wrong but they will learn and soon it will be second nature.

hey

It took me until fairly recently (despite watching the Sound of Music many times) to clock that Captain Gay-org VT was in fact called George!

As there are genuine italian connections I love it. Those that can't spell or say it (at least once clarified how) are very ignorant IMO. It's not hard!

Yes. I feel it is a good strong name which will always reflect his cultural heritage. It's such a big responsibility choosing a good name.

Meant to say, thanks Heylilbunny. Glad you like it. And Roma has significance for us as we honeymooned there and Capri.??

I've not met a Guilio but have met a few Giuliano's and Giulia's. I like the way it sounds though.