Girl's name with a LOT of criteria

Girl Names
1

[name_m]Hi[/name_m] berries,

UPDATE BELOW

A family friend is due with her third baby, a girl at the end of the year. Her older two children both have four letter names, and they have strong Italian heritage. She is looking for a name that:

  • Has Italian roots or works in both English and Italian
  • Is four letters long
  • Does not end in -a (her son’s name ends in -a and she’s looking to avoid repeating that)

The only consideration at the moment is [name_f]Clio[/name_f], but she doesn’t love it.

Any suggestions??? Is she being too specific with her criteria?

Thank you!

UPDATE
Everyone, thank you for all your great suggestions! Needless to say, she relaxed her strong criteria and baby Aria arrived back in October! Four letters, works in Italian, but the -a is what she loved and couldn’t let go of!

2

[name_u]Alex[/name_u] / [name_u]Alix[/name_u]
[name_f]Ceil[/name_f]
[name_f]Demi[/name_f]
[name_f]Dawn[/name_f]
[name_u]Drue[/name_u]
[name_m]Dion[/name_m]
[name_f]Elin[/name_f]
[name_f]Lise[/name_f]
[name_f]Lori[/name_f]
[name_f]Tess[/name_f]
[name_f]Jade[/name_f]
[name_f]Ines[/name_f]
[name_f]Iris[/name_f]
[name_u]June[/name_u]
[name_f]Lani[/name_f]
[name_f]Leni[/name_f]
[name_u]Noel[/name_u]
[name_m]Joel[/name_m]
[name_f]Jane[/name_f]
[name_f]Flor[/name_f]
[name_f]Rose[/name_f]
[name_u]Remi[/name_u]
[name_f]Luci[/name_f] / [name_f]Lucy[/name_f]
[name_f]Gwen[/name_f]
[name_u]Bryn[/name_u]
[name_f]Bree[/name_f]
Rein / [name_u]Rain[/name_u]
[name_u]Skye[/name_u]
I don’t know if any of those meet the criteria.

3

I think it’s a bit of a tall order. The best one to get rid of would be it needing to be 4 letters - that’s a really hard one to deal with!

Italian, 4 letters, no a ending:
[name_u]Caro[/name_u]

Italian, any length, no A ending:
[name_f]Beatrice[/name_f]
[name_f]Assisi[/name_f]
[name_f]Bernadette[/name_f]
[name_u]Felice[/name_u]
[name_f]Juliet[/name_f]/Guiliette
[name_f]Sicily[/name_f]
[name_f]Vivienne[/name_f]

Italian, 4 letters, does end in a:
[name_u]Luca[/name_u]
[name_f]Mila[/name_f]
[name_f]Orsa[/name_f]
[name_f]Rina[/name_f]
[name_u]Roma[/name_u]
[name_f]Zita[/name_f]
[name_f]Viva[/name_f]

Because Italian is a gendered Latinate language, most girls names do have an a on the end. Personally I love [name_f]Clio[/name_f]!

4

[name_u]Brio[/name_u]
[name_f]Lido[/name_f]
[name_u]Caro[/name_u]
[name_u]Nico[/name_u]

*most of the four letter Italian girl names that i found end in -a.

I used this list Italian Names | Nameberry

5

[name_f]Alys[/name_f]/[name_f]Aliz[/name_f]/[name_f]Alis[/name_f] (variants on [name_f]Alice[/name_f], though the spelling “[name_f]Alice[/name_f]” seems used in [name_f]Italy[/name_f])
[name_f]Anne[/name_f] or [name_f]Anni[/name_f] (variants on [name_f]Anne[/name_f], recongnized across Europe, though “[name_f]Anna[/name_f]” seems most used in [name_f]Italy[/name_f])
[name_f]Cami[/name_f] (from the Latin [name_f]Camilla[/name_f])
Cecy (patron saint of musicians who founded a church in [name_m]Rome[/name_m])
[name_f]Elen[/name_f] (while this is the Welsh version of [name_f]Helen[/name_f], [name_f]Elena[/name_f] is used in [name_f]Italy[/name_f] and would likely be recognized)
[name_u]Fran[/name_u] (nickname from [name_f]Frances[/name_f] or [name_f]Francesca[/name_f])
[name_u]Gabi[/name_u] (nickname from [name_f]Gabriella[/name_f])
[name_f]Iris[/name_f] (Greek goddess of the rainbow)
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] or [name_f]Mari[/name_f] (while [name_f]Maria[/name_f] is more common, this spelling would be recognized too)
[name_f]Miri[/name_f] (a biblical name)
Novi (I can’t find a background on this but it sounds like it would be southern European)
[name_u]Rene[/name_u] (while [name_u]Rene[/name_u] is more [name_m]French[/name_m] or English, [name_f]Renata[/name_f] is Italian and so [name_u]Rene[/name_u] might be familiar enough)
[name_f]Toni[/name_f] (nickname for [name_f]Antonia[/name_f])
[name_f]Tori[/name_f] (nickname for [name_f]Victoria[/name_f]/[name_f]Vittoria[/name_f])

6

I like a challenge like this–but this one might only have [name_f]Clio[/name_f] and [name_f]Ines[/name_f] as options! [name_f]Ines[/name_f] is the only one that I’m sure is used in Italian; the others seem like they would work, but my Italian is rudimentary at best :slight_smile:

[name_f]Ines[/name_f]
[name_f]Dido[/name_f]
[name_f]Ione[/name_f]
[name_f]Esme[/name_f]
[name_f]Lois[/name_f]
[name_f]Avis[/name_f]
[name_f]Hebe[/name_f]
[name_f]Alys[/name_f], [name_u]Alix[/name_u]
[name_f]Elin[/name_f]
[name_f]Juno[/name_f]
[name_f]Maud[/name_f]
[name_f]Nell[/name_f]
[name_u]Romy[/name_u]
[name_f]Lily[/name_f]

7

I came across these:

[name_f]Bice[/name_f] (diminutive of [name_f]Beatrice[/name_f] in Italian–BtN lists the pronunciation as [name_f]BEE[/name_f]-che, which I think is a soft “E”, like “bet” or “send”)
[name_f]Cloe[/name_f]
[name_f]Febe[/name_f] (I don’t think it looks anywhere near as gorgeous as [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f], though)
[name_f]Ines[/name_f]
[name_u]Luce[/name_u] (LOO-cheh)
[name_f]Mimi[/name_f]

Those were the only ones I found on Behind the Name, although they had a lot of gorgeous ones that do end in “A”–[name_f]Vera[/name_f], [name_f]Sara[/name_f], Pina, [name_f]Lena[/name_f]/[name_f]Lina[/name_f], [name_f]Alma[/name_f], [name_f]Alba[/name_f], etc.–and that are longer–[name_f]Adelina[/name_f], [name_f]Alessandra[/name_f], [name_f]Antonia[/name_f], [name_f]Antonella[/name_f], [name_f]Amaranta[/name_f], [name_f]Annabella[/name_f], [name_f]Antonina[/name_f], [name_f]Arianna[/name_f], [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f], [name_f]Aurora[/name_f], [name_f]Benedetta[/name_f], [name_f]Bianca[/name_f], [name_f]Carolina[/name_f], [name_f]Caterina[/name_f], [name_f]Celestina[/name_f], [name_f]Celeste[/name_f] (cheh-LEST-eh, I think), [name_f]Cecilia[/name_f], [name_f]Clementina[/name_f], [name_f]Cosima[/name_f], [name_f]Dafne[/name_f] (och, this is one letter away from meeting her criteria!), [name_f]Delia[/name_f], [name_f]Elena[/name_f], [name_f]Eleonora[/name_f], [name_f]Leonora[/name_f], [name_f]Elisa[/name_f], [name_f]Eloisa[/name_f], [name_f]Emilia[/name_f], [name_f]Eugenia[/name_f], [name_f]Fiammetta[/name_f], Fioralba, [name_f]Fiorella[/name_f], [name_f]Gemma[/name_f], [name_f]Genoveffa[/name_f], [name_f]Ginevra[/name_f], [name_f]Giovanna[/name_f], [name_f]Isabella[/name_f], Loreto, [name_f]Maddalena[/name_f], [name_f]Mafalda[/name_f], [name_f]Mirabella[/name_f], [name_f]Mirella[/name_f], [name_f]Noemi[/name_f] (again, one letter off from fitting her criteria! I love [name_f]Noemi[/name_f]), [name_f]Ofelia[/name_f], [name_f]Ondina[/name_f], [name_f]Paolina[/name_f], [name_f]Rachele[/name_f] (rah-KELL-eh, I think? I could be wrong, though), [name_f]Rosella[/name_f], [name_f]Rosina[/name_f] ([name_u]LOVE[/name_u]!), [name_f]Simona[/name_f], [name_f]Sofia[/name_f], [name_f]Susanna[/name_f], [name_f]Tatiana[/name_f], [name_f]Valeria[/name_f], and [name_f]Zoe[/name_f] (again, only one letter off, but I don’t think most associate this with [name_f]Italy[/name_f]. I think more Greek, Turkish, [name_m]French[/name_m], or [name_m]German[/name_m] before Italian, but it is used internationally!).

Good luck to your friend!

8

I like the suggestions of [name_f]Ines[/name_f] and [name_u]Caro[/name_u]!

[name_f]Lucy[/name_f]
[name_m]Alby[/name_m]
[name_f]Rose[/name_f]
[name_f]Lido[/name_f]
[name_f]Lune[/name_f]
[name_f]Juno[/name_f]
[name_f]Avie[/name_f]
[name_f]Elle[/name_f]
[name_f]Emme[/name_f]
[name_f]Esme[/name_f]
[name_f]Kate[/name_f]
[name_f]Leni[/name_f]
[name_f]Iris[/name_f]
[name_f]Neve[/name_f]
[name_u]Jean[/name_u]
[name_f]Edie[/name_f]
[name_u]Eden[/name_u]
[name_u]Romy[/name_u]
[name_u]Ruby[/name_u]
Ilvy
[name_f]Livy[/name_f]
[name_f]Mari[/name_f]
[name_f]Mali[/name_f]
[name_f]Suse[/name_f]
[name_u]Yule[/name_u]
[name_f]Posy[/name_f]
[name_f]Enid[/name_f]
[name_u]Elif[/name_u]
[name_f]Elin[/name_f]
[name_u]Brio[/name_u]
[name_f]Miri[/name_f]
[name_f]Flor[/name_f]

9

Hey, you, [name_f]Rose[/name_f], [name_f]Jade[/name_f], [name_f]Kate[/name_f] and [name_f]Lucy[/name_f] do NOT work in Italian! Not to mention, [name_f]Italy[/name_f] has strong naming laws, in case this woman moves to [name_f]Italy[/name_f] with her children, they may be forced to change their names.

Suggestions:
[name_u]Caro[/name_u]
[name_f]Ines[/name_f]
[name_f]Demi[/name_f]
[name_f]Fern[/name_f] - less usable, though

The OP friend should get her priorities straight, she needs to ditch one rule.