Hello everyone! I am sorry for the super weird question.
What are the names that you associate with Italy / Italians or that you think that, if the person had this name, they must be born in Italy (not necessarily have Italian heritage, but born there or have associations with it) or be of Italian heritage/diaspora in another country?
Being from Italy myself, I have always been curious to know what are in the opinion of people from other places in their mind “the most typical Italian names”. I think that our perspection is going to be very different, because I noted a liking of old fashioned names like Gianna and Nino.
In my opinion, those names are: Fiammetta, Giulia, Giada, Gioia, Andrea (b), Simone (b), Mattia (b), Tommaso, Gabriele (b), Giacinto, Daniele (b), Raffaele (b), Vittorio, Benedetto, Camillo, Giusy, Swamy, Azzurra, Dorotea/o (with this spelling),
With these names, I will almost always assume the person either was born in Italy, and in some cases had Italian heritage in another country,
It would be great if you told me the country you live in currently ! Thank you!
Names mentioned until now
Alberto
Alessandro (Mentioned 7 times)
Andrea (Mentioned 4 times)
Angelo (Mentioned 2 times)
Antonio (Mentioned 2 times)
Augusto
Carlo
Carmine
Dante
Davide
Dino
Francesco (Mentioned 5 times)
Giacomo (Mentioned 3 times)
Giancarlo (Mentioned 3 times)
Gianni
Giovanni (Mentioned 8 times)
Giorgio
Giulio
Giuseppe (Mentioned y times)
Guido
Leonardo (Mentioned 2 times)
Lorenzo (Mentioned 4 times)
Luca (Mentioned 2 times)
Luigi (Mentioned 3 times)
Marco
Marcantonio
Mario (Mentioned 3 times)
Mattia
Michele (Mentioned 2 times)
Niccolò (Mentioned 2 times)
Nico
Paolo (Mentioned 5 times)
Pasquale
Rafael
Rocco (Mentioned 3 times)
Salvatore
Silvio
Simone
Vincenzo
[name_f]Chiara[/name_f], [name_f]Vittoria[/name_f], [name_f]Filomena[/name_f], [name_f]Giulia[/name_f], [name_f]Giorgia[/name_f], [name_f]Giulietta[/name_f] names with a ch sound like [name_f]Lucia[/name_f]
I agree! Though I wouldn’t assume [name_m]Giovanni[/name_m] because I know it is a popular name in the US (right? [name_u]Or[/name_u] maybe I am wrong… I see it a lot on [name_f]English[/name_f] naming sites haha) for children and teens and [name_f]Chiara[/name_f] because it is popular in Switzerland and [name_u]Germany[/name_u], too
The others ones… I agree a lot
I actually have [name_f]Giulietta[/name_f] on my list!
People I’ve known (some family members): [name_f]Silvana[/name_f], [name_f]Elfrieda[/name_f], [name_u]Michele[/name_u], [name_m]Mario[/name_m], [name_f]Isabella[/name_f], [name_m]Dino[/name_m], [name_u]Rocco[/name_u], [name_m]Antonio[/name_m], Frencesco, [name_m]Franco[/name_m], [name_f]Renata[/name_f], [name_m]Silvio[/name_m], [name_m]Niccolo[/name_m], [name_f]Grazia[/name_f], [name_f]Irena[/name_f], [name_m]Alberto[/name_m], Marcantonio, [name_m]Giancarlo[/name_m], [name_m]Carlo[/name_m], [name_f]Generosa[/name_f], [name_f]Alessandra[/name_f], [name_f]Domenica[/name_f], [name_m]Pasquale[/name_m], [name_m]Augusto[/name_m], [name_f]Vienna[/name_f]. Many of these people, besides being family, are opera or publishing people I’ve known.
From your list, my favorite names are Giacinto and [name_m]Camillo[/name_m].
I’m American and these are the “stereotypical” Italian names that come to my head: [name_f]Francesca[/name_f], [name_f]Giuliana[/name_f], [name_m]Francesco[/name_m], [name_m]Paolo[/name_m], [name_f]Isabella[/name_f], [name_m]Antonio[/name_m], [name_f]Nicoletta[/name_f], [name_m]Giuseppe[/name_m], [name_f]Natalia[/name_f], [name_m]Giacomo[/name_m], [name_m]Angelo[/name_m], [name_m]Giovanni[/name_m], [name_m]Luigi[/name_m], [name_f]Alessandra[/name_f], [name_m]Alessandro[/name_m], [name_f]Valentina[/name_f], [name_m]Pietro[/name_m], [name_m]Lorenzo[/name_m], [name_u]Andrea[/name_u] on a boy
To be fair, [name_f]Natalia[/name_f] is quite an international name, but I find it to be very common for Italian-Americans. [name_f]Gianna[/name_f] is one I forgot to mention, too! And [name_f]Giada[/name_f] (via [name_f]Giada[/name_f] de Laurentiis). Although, the latter two are “mispronounced” here - “jee-ah-nuh” and “jee-ah-duh”
I am not Italian-American (and have no friends from the US, never went there) so I did not know about that. Natalia is not common at all in Italy, and has a Spanish vibe to me. It also reminds me of Russia because of Natalia Romanov and other Russian namesakes.
Gianna here it is a name like Enid, Patsy, or Gerta. Very old fashioned and uncommon on young people, or even adults.
From a German pov:
Giovanni, Giulia, all the Giu- names basically.
Gi- names in general if using the Italian pronunciation.
Francesca, Lucia,… if pronounced with an Italian c sound.
Andrea, Simone,… on men. Goes for many -a and -e ending names where the letters are pronounced.
Names like Vittoria or Mattia I can see people with non-Italian heritage using because they don’t contain any sounds that aren’t already in the German language.
I think I find [name_f]Vittoria[/name_f] very Italian. [name_f]Victoria[/name_f] very Angloamerican or Spanish, maybe [name_u]French[/name_u]. [name_f]Viktoria[/name_f] from other countries, Germany/Poland/Greece/Russia etc
I think [name_f]Victoria[/name_f] is one of the most international names in the western world, though personally I prefer [name_f]Vittoria[/name_f].
It is very Italian but I can easily see parents that regularly holiday in [name_f]Italy[/name_f] choosing it over [name_f]Victoria[/name_f], for example. Same with [name_f]Fiametta[/name_f], [name_u]Mattia[/name_u] or even [name_m]Tommaso[/name_m].
[name_f]Giovanna[/name_f] would be a different story because the [name_u]Gio[/name_u]- sound isn’t native to the german language and would likely fall under “Kevinismus” when used by people without Italian heritage / a strong connection to [name_f]Italy[/name_f].
[name_u]Germany[/name_u] is a bit weird like that.
[name_f]Chiara[/name_f], [name_u]Luca[/name_u], [name_f]Isabella[/name_f], all those names work naturally in the [name_m]German[/name_m] language, which is why I think they’re so popular.
I’m surprised nobody has said [name_f]Bianca[/name_f] yet because while I wouldn’t assume a [name_f]Bianca[/name_f] was born in [name_f]Italy[/name_f] or of Italian descent, if you said “name an Italian girls name” my mind goes to [name_f]Bianca[/name_f] first.
For boys [name_m]Giuseppe[/name_m], [name_m]Giovanni[/name_m], and [name_m]Francesco[/name_m] come to mind. Although you’re right that [name_m]Giovanni[/name_m] is used a lot in the US so I wouldn’t assume a [name_m]Giovanni[/name_m] was Italian. But if you said “name an Italian boys name” these would be my first thoughts.
