Help to find name for Scottish-Italian baby

[Toscaitalia]

Need some help for this one as DP and I are struggling to come to an agreement on baby names.

The background is that I am Italian and DP is Scottish. We live in Scotland but are planning to move to Italy or Spain in the future (5years or so). We don't know the sex of the baby yet but I really want it to have an Italian name, DP wants it to have a Scottish name. Baby will have both of our surnames which are obviously Scottish and Italian.

Names I like for girls :
(Italian)
Francesca
Caterina
Elsa
Marina
Alessia
Milena

(scottish/gaelic) :
Malina
Evina
Saoirse

Girls names DP likes:
He literally hasn't given any because he's convinced it's a boy! He has however said he's not adverse to Francesca or Caterina

Boys names I like:
(Italian)
Alessio
Alessandro
Federico
Michele
Stefano
Elia
Elio
Nico

(scottish/Gaelic)
Conall
Torren

Boys names DP likes:
Michael
Harris
Alexander
Bruce

He quite liked Alessio and Alessandro but thought they would get called Alice for short in Scotland and didn't like that.

I've tried to be open to Scottish/Gaelic names that I like the sound of that I think will be pronounced ok in Italy by my family and friends. I don't care if spelling is tricky (I've spent a lifetime spelling my name, it's not a big deal for me).
The main thing I don't like is names that are Italian but often used by non-Italians, so I love the names Luca and Lucia but wouldn't use it because so many people who aren't Italian seem to use them in UK. I don't care how popular it is in Italy or how popular it is if it's a Scottish name.

Any suggestions of names that could work for us and would work in both countries?

Boyd
Natalia

Alba is perfect!

I have an Italian friend called Marianna, Mari/Mhairi is common in Scotland so you could call her that for short. For a boy, I'd go for Luca or Nico.

To be honest, there are so many Scots-Italians where I am (Glasgow) that nobody’s ever batted an eyelid at pronunciation. Teachers never seemed to mispronounce anything. I was at school with a Paola, Carla, Luca, Chiara, Riccardo and loads more I can’t think of.

@cafedesreves

Alba is perfect!

Alba is the Gaelic word for Scotland.

Forgot my gorgeous friend Paulo. I love his name!

Similarly, there's so many Italians here. The school (private) my friend's girls go to offer immersion in Italian (ie all subjects taught in it) from age 7/8. As a consequence as teenagers they're both fluent, despite having Scottish and Malaysian parents. Fantastic!

Girls: Anna, Pia, Nina, Isobel
Boys: Gabriel, Niall, Euan, Andrew

I’ve tried to RTFT and have seen Cosmo mentioned once - but has no one mentioned the Scottish connections? The name Cosmo was apparently introduced to Scotland by the 2nd Duke of Gordon, who gave the name to his eldest son in honour of his friend Cosimo III de' Medici.

I’m biased because I have one, and it’s a great, simple name that works well in both English and Italian. Also loads of history because the de Medicis were, of course, medics, and Saint Cosmas is the patron saint of doctors. DH is Italian, nonno is Cosimo, SIL is a doctor and so was the perfect name for us.

You’ve been given loads of names above, and I think it’s lovely to give your child an Italian name. For boys, avoid the ‘e’ and ‘a’ ending names which don’t work well over here. For eg, Gabriele, Daniele etc. Also Andrea, Nicola .... as they can get confused with girls’ names. Exceptions being Luca which is well known.

Names with ‘o’ endings work great - Ezio, Elio, Matteo, Carlo, Fabio, Alessandro (perfect to shorten to Alex), Riccardo (Ricky) etc.

Avoid the ‘g’ names too where they’re soft and there’s a risk they’d be pronounced hard.

If I’d had a girl, we had prepared Aurelia as a favourite, though I also love Alessia. Girls’ names seem much easier and less problematic to pronounce!

@Oriunda

I love Cosmo and I’m related to one. Good choice 👍🏼
Didn’t know about the Scottish connection.

@Gerla

Sholto (Scottish but would work in Italy) I wouldn't choose a name that had a different meaning in Italian, especially if you are thinking of moving there - really confusing. Ditto Lio - don't change the spelling if you want Leo, just pronounce it the way you want - you won't be able to stop people pronouncing it their way anyway. Malina - just no!

What an odd idea. That would rule out Nick, Max, Matt, Jack, Miles, Mason, Roman etc.

To be fair, Sholto is presumably pronounced the same way as ‘sciolto’ which means ‘melted’ in Italian.

To be fair, Sholto is presumably pronounced the same way as ‘sciolto’ which means ‘melted’ in Italian.
Exactly. Unless I have misunderstood the pronunciation I think it would be weird to have "melted" as your name! Not sure what you mean about the other names @tatianabis

Erm - Nick means steal (pronounced the same way), Max means maximum, Matt means floor or hair mat, Miles are units of distance etc

Yes but they are all well-known names. If you say "my name is Nick" noone thinks you are saying "steal". My ds has a name that is also a noun in Italian but people still recognize it as a name. Entirely different to say "my name is Melted". If you don't think that is going to raise a few eyebrows I think you're being a bit naive!

Well Indian men called Harsh, Ram and Manbir can never visit the U.K. then.

Eh? Slight exaggeration. The OP literally said she was moving to Italy so presumably she wanted to know how the name would be perceived in Italy. You seem a little over-invested.

Invested in what? I don’t care what she calls her kids. I just question the claim that people can’t differentiate between names and words.

Maybe you don't use this board much but people usually want to know the connotations of the name they're choosing. There is someone asking atm whether Mia sounds too much like meow so, no I don't think it's out of place to point out that it sounds exactly like a word in Italian. (And no, asking what connotations a name has in a country you are thinking of moving to with a baby who has not yet been named is not at all like visiting a country as an adult when you already have a name. What an odd idea).

Maybe you don't use this board much

😂

Oh sorry. I look forward to you nitpicking lots of opinions then.

@Lockdownbear exactly!

Giulia (Italian) or Julia
Antonio

Actually have family members with same Scottish-Italian combination (based in Italy & Switzerland). Names they've found that are easily pronounced by both Scots and Italians include Isla, Catriona and Flora for girls; Giacomo (Jack), Murdo, Sholto, Alessandro for boys (Alexander historically being a really popular name in Scotland). Going too Gaelic was a bit much for their Italian relatives, apparently, mainly because the spellings seemed bewildering!

@AgentCooper

To be honest, there are so many Scots-Italians where I am (Glasgow) that nobody’s ever batted an eyelid at pronunciation. Teachers never seemed to mispronounce anything. I was at school with a Paola, Carla, Luca, Chiara, Riccardo and loads more I can’t think of.

I know it’s received wisdom on MN that everyone in the UK will mangle ‘forrin’ names and it is true that eg Giulia / Giulio will be frequently misspelled Gui- but honestly the average Brit is a polyglot compared to Italians (especially in Scotland where there is such an Italian community). Speaking from direct personal experience of my family, Italians will decide on the logical, phonetic Italian pronunciation of a name and use it regardless of any preferences from the namer or namee, so make sure you are happy with whatever this is!