Italian Baby Names

[periwinkle86]

We don’t know yet if we’re having a boy or a girl, but my partner and I both have Italian connections and we have been thinking lately that it might be nice to honour this in our choice of baby name. The trouble is the surname and middle name (a family name that we will definitely use) are very British, so we would like an Italian name that has come into use in English a bit / doesn’t sound too Italian to avoid it clashing with the other names. These seem particularly hard to think of for boys, and to complicate matters further, I don’t particularly like long/frilly names, which rules out a lot of girl options. We already have a Gemma in the family so can’t use that.

If anyone has any ideas, that would be great! Thank you in advance!

Francesca or Francesco.

Giovanna for a girl.

Mia
Cara
Stella

Luca
Nico
Bruno
Enzo

Always loved the name Lucia

@FadoFado

I'd check with an Italian person or Italian resident to see how any potential names are currently perceived in Italy. You might not want to give him/her a name that's the Italian equivalent of Roy/Brenda. Or you might not care!

I've always liked the name Matteo.

True. A lot of the suggested names on this thread aren't Italian, others are nicknames and others still are exactly the equivalent of Roy or Brenda!

Boys:

Vasco
Massimo

For me Matteo, Luca, Elio, Nico, Dante, Raphael, Gabriel etc are all nice/international without sounding super Italian (where as Antonio, Alessandro, Leonardo etc sound more strongly Italian to me).

For girls I think you are more spoiled for choice - Claudia, Antonia, Gabriella, Isabella, Aurelia, Francesca, Livia, Viola etc are all so well used outside Italy I'm not sure people automatically think "Italian" for them anymore.

Thank you so much for all your suggestions! There are some lovely names on here.

I really like Lucia - have added it to the list! My only concern is that people seem to pronounce it differently, which might get annoying for her. Lots of other lovely girl suggestions here too, which may well get added as well once DP and I have a chance to discuss properly. I like Luca and Nico for boys.

@FadoFado that is an excellent suggestion - I will definitely make sure I do that if we end up going for an Italian name!

I love Emilia & Gianluca ❤️.

I know a Cecilia (pronounced Ch - chee - lia) - very pretty.

While it's a lovely name Raphael is not Italian, it would be Raffaello or Raffaella.

Names in our family are -
Chiara
Loredana
Margherita
Cecilia
Daniela

Oops posted too soon!
Asia
Irene (pronounced Ih ray neh)

Giuseppe
Vincenzo (Enzo)
Michele
Simon
Vito

Chiara is key-ar-a, you have to pronounce all the letters. Ch makes a hard k sound. Opposite of English.

Don’t use Rocco. Every Italian will immediately think of the porn star.

Luca is becoming very popular in the UK.

Lucia is lovely though.

Ilaria
Cosima (name of grannies in Italy but lovely here)
Raffaella

Raffaello
Cosimo
Orlando

@Cazzovuoi

Chiara is key-ar-a, you have to pronounce all the letters. Ch makes a hard k sound. Opposite of English.

Don’t use Rocco. Every Italian will immediately think of the porn star.

Or their 98 year old great grandfather I've only ever taught one, and he'll be in his mid thirties now, and at first register would go "yesssss after my grandad why on earth would I be called Rocco otherwise!"

I agree @Geamhradh, a lot of the names listed are definitely more grandparents than not. Or even just middle aged (some of the names are my age group). Enzo definitely old man. Lorenzo these days is abbreviated to Lory, which I guess is not appropriate for English speaking circles.

Lucia is both mine and my mother’s generation, Luca is the Italian version of Steve or Jack, so ubiquitous. Although finally dwindling in popularity it seems.

Mind you the Italian choices of English names is equally horrifying. Lots of little (or not so little) Kevins, Michaels (sometimes spelt Maicol 🤦🏻‍♀️) and Brians (often spelt Brayan). Actually nothing wrong with Michael, but Kevin and Brian?

OP you also need to think how the name will be pronounced by English speakers, so I would bin the idea of Claudia or Stefano and go for something which is phonetic in a similar way. I had to do this to avoid my DD’s name being mangled by my English relatives. Also avoid boys’ names which will get mistaken for girls’ names, like Nicola or Andrea

So maybe something like (thinking of friends with smallish children)
Stella
Caterina
Giorgia
Margherita
Clara
Annamaria or even just Anna
Lara
Camilla
Elisabetta

Boys
Christian
Giorgio
Federico
Edoardo
Leonardo
Giulio

I've only ever taught one, and he'll be in his mid thirties now, and at first register would go "yesssss after my grandad why on earth would I be called Rocco otherwise!"

When Madonna called her son Rocco 20 years or so ago it was seen as being a bit cool and edgy and became quite trendy in the UK. Think it still is. All the grandad Roccos in Italy must have had a good chuckle at that.

@Melassa

I agree *@Geamhradh*, a lot of the names listed are definitely more grandparents than not. Or even just middle aged (some of the names are my age group). Enzo definitely old man. Lorenzo these days is abbreviated to Lory, which I guess is not appropriate for English speaking circles.

Lucia is both mine and my mother’s generation, Luca is the Italian version of Steve or Jack, so ubiquitous. Although finally dwindling in popularity it seems.

Mind you the Italian choices of English names is equally horrifying. Lots of little (or not so little) Kevins, Michaels (sometimes spelt Maicol 🤦🏻‍♀️) and Brians (often spelt Brayan). Actually nothing wrong with Michael, but Kevin and Brian?

OP you also need to think how the name will be pronounced by English speakers, so I would bin the idea of Claudia or Stefano and go for something which is phonetic in a similar way. I had to do this to avoid my DD’s name being mangled by my English relatives. Also avoid boys’ names which will get mistaken for girls’ names, like Nicola or Andrea

So maybe something like (thinking of friends with smallish children)
Stella
Caterina
Giorgia
Margherita
Clara
Annamaria or even just Anna
Lara
Camilla
Elisabetta

Boys
Christian
Giorgio
Federico
Edoardo
Leonardo
Giulio

Yes! I have met more Kevins than you can shake a stick at. I think it might be Costner as most of them seem to be late teens early 20s now.

Kevin was super popular in France too in the early ‘90s - must have been the Costner effect. Very few baby Kevins being born now though I imagine!

Good old naff Kevin, flying high in the chic Med countries!

I think it was the Home Alone effect too. Yes, most are late teens and older now.

There was also a spate of Jhonnies (yes, spelt that way) and Dennis as well a few years ago, albeit not so much from native Italians.