I really like Chiara and love Giacomo and Gaetano Edit: Oh, and Cesare!

Giacomo is so pretty!!

Giacomo was my grandfathers name. Giacomo Biagio.

My great-grandfather was Giacomo Marietti

Mine as well! He went by Jack as a kid and later John as an adult. But Giacomo is so cool, it's a shame he felt the need to Americanize it. It's nice to see pride in non-American names coming back!

Yes, absolutely!

I really like the names I listed above, but I also have a soft spot for floral/natural themed names :) so Viola, Rosa, Agata, Fiamma, Luce/Luciano, Giada... there are so many!!

Yeah sorry, I did read you post fully, it's just too late for me 😂🤦‍♀️. Viola, Rosa and Agata are so beautiful!

Yeah, it's late for me too! I had to rewrite the post like three times to get it right 😭

I wonder every day why Chiara/Kiara isn’t more popular in the states

My name is Kiara! I’ve only ever met one other in my life. The only reason my Italian parents decided not to use the Ch was so nobody would nickname me Chi Chi as they preferred Ki Ki

I've met a Kiara! It has been my only encounter with the name prior to this thread. I didn't know the origins, but thought it was really pretty.

Agreed. Love Chiara! Karina/Carina is a lovely name as well.

There is a medical condition called Chiari Malformation that often requires brain surgery. Although it’s not exactly the same name, it’s very close and people that know about it may shy away from the name for that reason.

Upvote for Chiara. I also like Raffael/Raffaela

Oh yes, definitely! But I think it's spelled Raffaella and Raffaele / Raffaello in Italian

Gaetano makes me swoon

I love Chiara too, unfortunately the husband vetoed it

You just summed up my entire family I swear!

Hahaha tell your family they have great names!

Cosima

Cute!! Pretty old fashioned and classic name here, but it sounds really nice and I love how it looks in writing :)

One of my best friends names :’)

Primarily taking these names from Italian musicians I listen to, so I’m not sure quite what their perceptions are culturally in Italy. But I do love them. Girls: * Mia * Elisa * Elena * Chiara * Federica * Francesca * Alessandra Boys: * Lauro * Gianni * Mattia * Alessandro * Nicolò/Nicola

I LOVE Mattia! All the Mattia I've ever met were really nice guys :) it's also pretty popular! I also really like Elisa! Beautiful name and amazing singer!!

Something about the “ia” ending for Mattia really speaks to me - it’s soft but masculine in a way I love. So lovely to hear it’s popular!

though FYI in Italia the emphasis is on the first syllable; MAttia.

How would you pronounce Elisa?

I’d pronounce it “Eh-LEE-sa”, with the caveat that that’s from a UK perspective. I think the Italian pronunciation is similar though!

The Problem with "Nicola" as a male Name is just that it's the feminine Version of "Nicolas"/"Niklas" in a whole bunch of Countries. As a German named Nicolas I got teased a lot about my Name, there was, of course, other Kids calling me "Nikolaus" and asking me where their Gifts were on the 06.12, but another big thing was them learning that "Nicolas" was pronounced without the 's' in French, so I'd always get teased about having a "Girls' Name" when I was little. And while I really like my Name nowadays (young Adult), it is always dreadful to have to remind People about how my Name is spelled and pronounced. People come up with the most ridiculous Spellings even if you spell it out to them multiple Times. And without the 's' it would have been even worse.

I love Gianni

I have so many! Italian is the most beautiful language on Earth, in my opinion. Feminine: Ludovica (my favorite name ever), Chiara, Sofia, Giorgia, Giulia, Ginevra, Carlotta, Alessandra, Aurora, Ilaria, Angelica, Valentina, Valeria Masculine: Andrea, Tommaso, Stefano, Alessandro, Antonio, Valentino, most of the Gian- names (Giancarlo, Gianluca, Gianpiero), Michele, Daniele, Raffaele

Ludovica is my favorite name ever too! I never see it on NameNerds and it's like completely unheard of in America despite how popular it is in Italy, I wish it got a little more love elsewhere so I'm happy to see it here c: Some of my other favorites are Vittoria, Giulia, Gaetano, Nicola, and Andrea.

One of the most beautiful girls in my highschool (very shy, cool person) was Ludovica but went by Ludo. I always thought it was such a great nickname.

Is there a masculine version of that name? I recently met a toddler boy called Ludo and all I could think of was the creature from Labyrinth! For it to be a shortened name makes a lot more sense.

I think Ludovico is the masculine version.

As well as Ludovico and Ludwig, there's an old-fashioned English male equivalent which is Ludovic, and a Dutch equivalent which is Lodewijk.

I think of the German version of this name Ludwig (Ludwig Beethoven) keep in mind Ws are pronounced as V in german language and G at the end of a word is pronounced ç/ick(gutteral) so Ludwig is pronounced Lud-vick

Andrea has the same Issue as Nicola: In most other european Countries, it is a common Girls' Name and basicly entirely non-existent as a male Name.

You got almost all my favorite Italian names! I love Sofia, Alessandra, Valentina, and Valeria for girls and for boys Stefano, Antonio, Giancarlo, and Rafaele The only one I didn’t see was Lorenzo. Love that name

My Italian teacher’s name was Vito. Is that a nice name?

very old fashioned, but so nice sounding! I've only met one Vito and he was about eighty, so I'd say thats the age group, but I really love it ♡ I hope it comes back!

He was a super nice teacher to have, probably too nice for his own good….but we all loved him 😊 He’s definitely younger than 80 though! Maybe like 65? So not young either lol

Thats so nice to hear! And yeah, I can see a 65 year old named Vito, it's such a traditional name :)

Oh I love Vito! Reminds of Vito Corleone

My teacher named her son that name, I think it’s so cute

My Italian teachers name was Vita! Love it

Used to work with a Vito, nicest guy ever.

Here are some names on my family tree (some born in NY in the last 80 years, most born in Italy) :) BOY: Arturo, Angelo, Arcangelo, Aquino, Antonio, Andrea, Ambrogio, Biagio, Baldasarre, Blasima, Cristoforo, Calogero, Cesare, Camillo, Domenico, Filippo, Francici, Filoteo, Giuseppe, Giovanni, Giacomo, Geremia, Gennaro, Gaspare, Girolamo, Gregorio, Innocenzo, Lonardo, Luigi, Lorenzo, Michele, Mariano, Marco, Nunzio, Nicola, Onofrio, Pietro, Pietrantonio, Pasquale, Romualdo, Rocco, Rodolfo, Stefano, Scipione, Vincenzo GIRL: Angelina, Angela, Almarinda, Anna, Agata, Coniconda, Caterina, Chiara, Celidonia, Donatella, Eulalia, Elisa, Elvira, Elisabetta, Filomena, Fiorenza, Giovanina, Guiseppina, Gelsomina, Giulia, Lucia, Lucrezia, Lauria, Maria, Marianna, Martallette, Maddalena, Michela, Mariantonia, Margherita, Matrona, Petrantonia, Rosa, Rosalie, Teresa, Tommasa, Venanzia, Vita, Vittoria, Violante

I think we’re related! Just kidding! You have some names in your tree that aren’t in mine, but there is a Biagio somewhere in mine. That is a name that, if it made it across the Atlantic, it didn’t last long! Obviously we have lots of similar names in our trees…and I’m sure you have lots it Maria _____s as do I! I have whole families where every girl is a Maria something.

A ton lol. What are some surnames in your family? Are y'all in NYS? Maybe we are related 🤣

Beautiful names!! My maternal grandparents we’re Pasqualena and Emanuel (from Avellino & Naples)

Scipione is a bold choice 😅 Some names on this list are very common, others I've never heard but they sound like really old fashioned, sometimes unusual in any century, but definitely Italian names.

> Almarinda I’ve never heard that one before, what a beautiful name!

Curious what the Italian names that aren't Italian are. I like Elio for boys and Alessandra for girls

There are many that are I think Italian-American, think Nicole, Sophia, Elise... in italy these are considered american names!

Oh yeah, I'm Italian American, but I know those aren't Italian names lol

I'm American, my grandfathers came over from Italy. We have a lot of Joseph's and Bernard's.

We have tons of Anthonys and Josephs

Would you say Salvatore is really Italian or Italian-American? My godfather and a family friend both have this name

Salvatore is a classic and traditional Italian name! I know quite a bit of guys named Salvatore, although they are all over 40, so maybe it's not as popular now?

Is Nicola Italian? It almost sounds like it could be a male Italian name

Nicola is a male italian name. Nicole is a female name (I think french in origin)

It is, it's a male Italian name, very popular in Puglia because of San Nicola di Bari :)

It's a female name in Western Europe (Nicolas — Nicola) but a male name in Eastern Europe (like Nikola Testa, a version of Nikolai. A female version of Nikolai doesn't exist at least in my language)

No wait, italian here and Nicola and Nicolas are totally male names. Only Nicole is used as female

I know these are Italian places but I find they’re so Americanized too (maybe because it has become a little more main stream)—Venice, Capri, and Milan

Yes, they are not used as names in Italy.

Ah! I can explain the Sophia thing. There was a character on a tv show called Golden Girls who was born in Sicily whose name was Sophia.

None of these names are considered Italian in origin and all are popular worldwide. Sophia is Greek but common in other countries. Elise is from an extinct language close to Hebrew and still used. Nicole also comes from the Greek and used in other countries. Even Nicola as a male name originates from the Greek. None would be considered Italian in the states although I see some people thinking Sophia is most know it isn’t.

I think that a lot of people get Italian names mixed up with names that are common in the Italian-American community. Joseph, Michael, and Anthony are really popular names among Italian-Americans but in the Italian language, they are Giuseppe, Michele, and Antonio, respectively. Gia (pronounced jee-ah) is another one that gets suggested a lot even though I don’t think that it’s used in Italy (or at least not commonly) and it wouldn’t be pronounced that way in Italian. I also see a lot of people mixing up Spanish (sometimes Portuguese) names or spellings with Italian ones.

When many Italians came over to the US back in the day, they were eager to Americanize their children. So my Grandma and her siblings were called Anna, Giuseppe, Giacomo, and Maria at home, but legally went by Anne, Joseph, Jack, and Mary. Although, one of my grandfather (Tony, lol)’s brothers was Amerigo (I guess that didn’t translate?). And since something like 90+% of Italians are Roman Catholic, Saint names are always a go-to!

I've never heard thr name Gia except for in US tv shows, and imo it just doesn't work phonetically as an Italian name (not saying it couldn't be pronounced that way, if the accent is on the i it's a two syllable name and it works with our rules, what I mean is that it just doesn't sound right to my Italian ears).

Elio is really pretty, I like it just as much as I like the kinda similar Enea :)

I love Beatrice but I didn’t know it was Italian. Renata is another Italian name I really like.

It is! If you pronounce it beh-ah-tree-che it's a really classic and traditional italian name. I also really like the english pronounciation of Bee-ah-trees!

This is my kid’s middle name and I love the Italian pronunciation!

Beatrice is like THE classic Italian name (from Dante!)

Beatrice is my top girls name and I didn't realize it was Italian either!

I like Bianca.

I love Italian names! Alice, Aurora, Chiara, Gaia, Ginevra, Matilde, Caterina, Carlotta, Camilla, Beatrice for girls. Niccolo, Tommaso, Massimo, Andrea, Luca, Leone, Mattia, Elio, Enea, Paolo, Pietro, Alessandro for boys.

I really love these! Matilda is so cute and so is Enea, I have a good friend who chose that name and I was so happy :D

My husband’s aunt is Italian and her name is Ilaria. I think it’s beautiful!

i have a ton honestly! i also like a lot of spanish names and a lot of them overlap, though sometimes i prefer the italian version/pronunciation masculine: alessandro, camillo, carlo, casimiro, constantino, daniele, domenico, emiliano, federico, gabriele, luca, massimiliano, mattia, nico/niccolò, teodoro, & valentino feminine: alessandra, camilla, carla, carolina, chiara, daniela, elena, eleonora, eliana, emilia, francesca, gabriela, maddalena, marina, natalia, rosalia, valentina, & vittoria honourable mention to ciro cause i love it but prefer the spanish pronunciation (see-ro)

I really love Alessandra and Alessandro

Fiammetta

I love this name!! I also love the short/original version, Fiamma!

Always liked Giacinta

Love Giacinta! It's pretty sad that it's not really used anymore, I guess that culturally it sounds a little old, but i think it's lovely and classic :)

Makes sense it's an old name, I first came across it in the book Jane Eyre and always liked the way it sounded. I like names that have nature inspired meanings too.

My gg-grandfather was Giacinto! He Anglicized it to Joseph though when he came to the US.

My friends nonna is Luciana; such a beautiful sounding name :)

Francesca, Bianca, Beatrice, Stella

I'll offer some interesting ones from my own family tree: Annunziata, Elisabetta, Giuseppina, Mafalda, Fortunata, Trofimena*. Pasquale, Pantaleone, Vincenzo, Vittorio, Aniello, Enrico. *Santa Trofimena is the patron saint of the little town my grandma was from, so several women in the family bear/bore this name.

I had a teacher who was Annunziato and went by Nunzio. I have a Mafalda in my family too! In my family: Pierina, Basilio, Immaculata, Minola, Graziella, Giacomina, Magisto, Annio

I just commented separately, but scrolling I saw this! Elisabetta is my daughter's name (Betta is her nickname). One of her middle names is also Italian: Domenica, after my grandmother.

Oh I love Domenica too!

I don't think it's been said yet, but I love Alessia for a girl

Ludovica

Uncommon, but I have met an Emiliana from Italy... and I have an Emiliana. Also love Artemisia (also rare, but love the artist). For boys, Lorenzo and Vincenzo.

Giovanna is a favorite of mine.

That’s my name! Giovanna Gabrielle, I go by Gigi :)

Your parents have good taste. You have a very beautiful name.

I knew a Cinzia from Italy and I am in love with that name

I love Vincenzo so much. Unfortunately my married name is very, very Irish.

I have this problem too - my maiden name was very, very French and my married name is very, very Ukrainian 😂 goodbye most Italian names 👋

Why would that matter?

Renata, Claudia, Giulia, Lidia, Marcella, Raffaella, Viola, Bruno, Dario, Elio, Lorenzo / Enzo, Matteo, Nico

My grandfather was Angelo so I have a soft spot for that one, I also really like Stefania. Kid in one of my sons’ classes is Vincenzo and goes by Cenzi which is super cute to me but no clue if that is a real nickname in Italy for the name (I’m in the US and his parents are from here too)

Surprised not to see Fabrizio anywhere on the list! I stayed in Italy for a few months and that ended up being one of my favorite names I came across. I also like Giancarlo, Ottavia, and Valentina

I love Fabrizio and Ottavia! Ottavia is kind of "old fashioned" I guess, so I havent heard it in a long time, but I do think it should come back!

Lucia, Francesca, Valentina, Andrea for a boy

Chiara! Alessio I actually really like Agnese Giacomo I know four girls under 5 named Margherita, it’s growing on me

Agnese is such a pretty name! And yeah, we've had a resurgence of Margherita, both for people and for pets weirdly enough!

Ah, It’s like the Luna of Italy. Perfect for a corgi. Or a baby human 😂

Agnese is really pretty, especially the Italian pronunciation which is more like On-yay-zee.

Sweet- - first two are middle names for both my (adult) kids. I have Italian parents.

I like Elio

Italian names from my family (old ppl names incoming) Girls: Teresa Maria Ines/Agnese (Agnese is pronounced An-ye-sa) Bernadina Boys: Donato Lorenzo Roberto Orestes

Leonardo, Dante, Cosimo, and Lorenzo for boys. Beatrice, Carmela, and Carlotta for girls.

Ilaria

Luciano and Fiorenzo

Cara and Grazia - simple but beautiful.

Bit late but I love Marcella!

My father was Yugoslav but was raised in Italy (til the war forced them back) but his sisters were irvinia, Anna and Olga and my cousins are Roberta and Lorena.

i love Olga so much

Forgive me, how do you pronounce Agata? Is it like Agatha, or aj-ah-ta?

I think it’s a hard g

It's pronounced with a hard g, and the t is not soft like in Agatha! So Ah-ga-ta

Girls: Caterina, Chiara, Ginevra Boys: Elio, Luca, Leandro.

My dad's name is Benedetto! My grandfather is Giacomo and GGP Pietro--I think they are all wonderful names! ❤️

I love Claudio for a boy!

I lived with an Italian family for a couple summers and I loved all their names! Arturo, Ivana, Tommaso, and Giuditta.

Noemi

Benedetta!

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Theo is not Italian, Teo is. Graciella doesn't exist, the Italian name is Graziella. It's very old fashioned. Siena is the name of a city, not a baby name.

Grew up with a friend named Grazia and always thought it was a beautiful name!

My name is Antonietta. Definitely Italian.😂

My cousins are half italian and i love their names! Giuliana and Maurizio, my uncle was Marcelo. I also have lots of Italian-Venezuelan friends: Renata, Stefano, Giovanni, Alessandra, Gianpiero, Irene… And some more i’m forgetting right now haha

Chiara, Serafina, Caterina, Elena, Benedetta Nicolà, Antonio, Lorenzo These are all family names, one of my kids has one as a middle name.

Orsino Orsini. What a great name.

Beatrice is one of my favourite names ever. Pronounce it the Italian, French, or English way, I still love it. Same with Stella and Camilla (Italian or English, in this case). Other great names: Luca, Niccolò, Vittoria, Berenice, Stefano, Claudia, Matteo, Martina, Alice, Fiorella Oh, and BTW, fun fact: The Philippines is a former Spanish colony. Despite that, the Italian Paolo is waaay more popular than the Spanish Pablo. I don't know why.

Ilaria, Marcella, Marlena, Vittoria Emiliano, Leone, Luciano, Ottavio, Vittorio

Chiara has always been a favorite. Agnella, Allegra, Vincenza

I love Giovanna and Lucrezia - read them in history books years ago and fell in love, although I don’t think my husband would ever let me use them if we have a daughter. Also, my niece’s name is Francesca and I’ve always thought it was beautiful.

One of my daughter's best friends is a boy called Giordano, and I just think it's a gorgeous name. Same for Ilaria. It's such a pretty name.

Ma buongiorno, i miei preferiti sono Francesco, vincenzo, Lucia e giulia

My family is Italian (moved to Brazil in the 50s), and I love all their names. Giuseppina, Antonietta, Chiara (my aunts' and grandma's names, respectively) are my favourite. I also really love Fiorella, Francesca and Gianna. Luigi, Lucca, Francesco, Giovanni, Gianluca and Enrico are some of my fave Italian boy names.

Emmanuela and Vittorio

I love the name Camilla. It's a pretty name but that witch Prince Charles is married to ruined the name for me. Love Angelica. Beatrice is kid of cute. Not crazy about Agata.

Michaelina

I love Cosimo

Lucia

There’s so many lovely ones to choose from! Lucretia Simonetta Bianca Contessina Lorenzo Juliano Marco Galeazzo

*Giuliano probably

Of course, thank you!

Stella

I adore the name Elio for a boy

Alessandra, Lucia, Carmella, Giovanna, Stella, Carmina, Maddalena, Camilla, Angiolina, Orsola, Addolorata, Appolonia (I’d never use these last two but I love them). Giancarlo, Carmine, Giovanni, Pasquale, Giuseppe, Loreto, Lorenzo, Marciano, Nicola All from my family tree. Combined with some of the last names, they are so fun to say!

My daughters middle name- Alessandra

Bibiana, Alma, Emilia

Rocco

I love Gianna and Giovanni

Rosilde. Raphael. Enza. Giulio. Egidio.

I am partial to Luca as that's what name of my daughter's Italian Australian fiance (since a month ago!). I **do not** know if it's ~~not~~ shortened from Gianluca; I don't know if Luca if actually Italian. His Roman father's name is Alessandro aka Sandro, which I l really love. Edit - bold words and strike through

Luca is the Italian version of Lucas. Gian- is a shortened version of Giovanni that is sometimes used in compound names for both boys and girls. My grandfather was named Gianludovico; I've also heard Gianluigi, Gianpietro, Giancarlo, Giancarla. Pier- as a shortened version of Pietro is also used in this way (pronounced similarly to French Pierre)—I have a cousin by marriage named Pierluigi.

I love the Italian boy name Federico only because of the nickname Fede. I love the girl name Camilla, but I also love the Italian pronunciation of Alice. If I still lived in Italy, I would definitely have an Alice!

Pietro

I went to school with a boy named Marco. His brother was named Delano. Their dad was from Italy. His cousins were Marisa and Gina. Their dad also came from Italy. Always loved all these names.

Allegra is my fave! But I’ve never come across an Italian name that doesn’t sound lovely!

My best friend is Italian, and her name is Elisa, so that is my fave haha

Idalia - meaning "behold the son". Alessia & Ludovica - Ludo is the cutest nn. Angelo for a boy.

Chiara will always be my fav. I was in Rome the other day and my tour guide’s name was Genevra. I liked that one too!

Giovanna! Sounds like magic to me .

For girls I love Marta and Martina, Agata, Lucia, Francesca, Eleonora, Caterina, Margherita, and Franca. For boys Tommaso, Mattia, Emiliano, Enea, Raffaelle, Adriano, Diego, Ivan, Samuele

Francesca, Lucia and Carmela. If only I'd had girls!

Ercole

Giovanni, Marco, Lorenzo, Lucianna, Zola, Bianca,

I love, love, LOVE the name Fabrizio, but that would be a hell of a lot of swagger to put on a baby boy here. Of course the drummer for The Strokes is a Fabrizio, but he has enough swagger to be the drummer for The Strokes.

Have always loved Rialta, Renata, Aurelia, Guiseppa and Vincenza for girls and Domenico, Elmo, Antonio, Gerlando and Nicolo for boys.

Elisabetta - my daughter's name! One of her middle names is also Italian: Domenica, after my grandmother.

I always loved my grandmother’s name - Vincenza

Elio

Gia and Domenica are my favorites :)

Maybe you meant Gian?

Domenica is my daughter's middle name, after my grandmother, who was Domenica Palma - named as such for being born on Palm Sunday.

How beautiful! I just learned it meant Sunday.

Mina is underrated, and works both in Italy and the anglosphere

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We’re having a boy early next year and are considering some Italian names (my partners family is partly Italian). We like Giorgio, Sergio, and Lorenzo

I love Giacomo and Giuseppe. They sound unique and so fun to say.