Popular Italian female name. What do Italian names mean: interpretation and history of origin

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Italian names

Italian female names and their meaning

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Italian names. Italian female names and their meanings

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Colosseum in Rome

State in southern Europe. The capital is Rome. Population – about 61 million (2011). 93.52% are Italians. Other ethnic groups– French (2%); Romanians (1.32%), Germans (0.5%), Slovenes (0.12%), Greeks (0.03%), Albanians (0.17%), Turks, Azerbaijanis. Official language– Italian. Regional status is given to: German (in Bolzano and South Tyrol), Slovenian (in Gorizia and Trieste), French (in the Aosta Valley).

Approximately 98% of the population professes Catholicism. The center of the Catholic world, the Vatican City State, is located on the territory of Rome. In 1929–1976 Catholicism was considered state religion. Followers of Islam – 1 million 293 thousand 704 people. The third most widespread religion is Orthodoxy (1 million 187 thousand 130 followers, their number has grown due to the Romanians). The number of Protestants is 547,825.

The identification of official statistics of names in Italy is carried out by National Institute statistics (Italian: Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, ISTAT). It was created in 1926 to collect information about the population. This institute organizes population censuses in Italy and collects operational statistics. Including the most common names newborns. On the institute’s website you can find data on the 30 most popular names for newborn Italian citizens – separately for boys and girls. For each name, the absolute frequency and relative frequency (percentage of those named) are given. Cumulative statistics (in %) are given in a separate column (third in a row). On the institute’s website, the earliest statistics on names date back to 2007.

I will show you the 30 most common names of boys and girls born into families of Italian citizens in 2011–2013. Data for several years is presented to show the dynamics of preferences in the field of personal names. More current data is not yet available.

Boys names

Place	2013	2012	2011
1	Francesco	Francesco	Francesco
2	Alessandro	Alessandro	Alessandro
3	Andrea	Andrea	Andrea
4	Lorenzo	Lorenzo	Lorenzo
5	Mattia	Matteo	Matteo
6	Matteo	Mattia	Gabriele
7	Gabriele	Gabriele	Mattia
8	Leonardo	Leonardo	Leonardo
9	Riccardo	Riccardo	Davide
10	Tommaso	Davide	Riccardo
11	Davide	Tommaso	Federico
12	Giuseppe	Giuseppe	Luca
13	Antonio	Marco	Giuseppe
14	Federico	Luca	Marco
15	Marco	Federico	Tommaso
16	Samuel	Antonio	Antonio
17	Luca	Simone	Simone
18	Giovanni	Samuel	Samuel
19	Pietro	Pietro	Giovanni
20	Diego	Giovanni	Pietro
21	Simone	Filippo	Christian
22	Edoardo	Alessio	Nicolo"
23	Christian	Edoardo	Alessio
24	Nicolo"	Diego	Edoardo
25	Filippo	Christian	Diego
26	Alessio	Nicolo"	Filippo
27	Emanuele	Gabriel	Emanuele
28	Michele	Emanuele	Daniele
29	Gabriel	Christian	Michele
30	Daniele	Michele	Christian

Girls names

Place	2013	2012	2011
1	Sofia	Sofia	Sofia
2	Giulia	Giulia	Giulia
3	Aurora	Giorgia	Martina
4	Emma	Martina	Giorgia
5	Giorgia	Emma	Sara
6	Martina	Aurora	Emma
7	Chiara	Sara	Aurora
8	Sara	Chiara	Chiara
9	Alice	Gaia	Alice
10	Gaia	Alice	Alessia
11	Greta	Anna	Gaia
12	Francesca	Alessia	Anna
13	Anna	Viola	Francesca
14	Ginevra	Noemi	Noemi
15	Alessia	Greta	Viola
16	Viola	Francesca	Greta
17	Noemi	Ginevra	Elisa
18	Matilde	Matilde	Matilde
19	Vittoria	Elisa	Giada
20	Beatrice	Vittoria	Elena
21	Elisa	Giada	Ginevra
22	Giada	Beatrice	Beatrice
23	Nicole	Elena	Vittoria
24	Elena	Rebecca	Nicole
25	Arianna	Nicole	Arianna
26	Rebecca	Arianna	Rebecca
27	Marta	Melissa	Marta
28	Melissa	Ludovica	Angelica
29	Maria	Marta	Asia
30	Ludovica	Angelica	Ludovica

Many names of Italy have antique origin . Initially, they arose from nicknames or the name of the area where the family lived.

From the 16th century in the Apennines they begin to name children by surname of fathers and grandparents.

So, the eldest son was called the same as his paternal grandfather, and eldest daughter– as a maternal grandmother; the second son and second daughter were named after the maternal grandfather and grandmother, respectively.

If there were more than two children in a family, they were called in honor of parents or one of the deceased relatives.

Many to this day receive the names of saints catholic church. There are also rooted greek names, for example, Sofia.

During the conquest of Italian territories by Arabs and Jews, their national names came across, but now they are almost extinct.

In some names, a foreign pronunciation currently predominates, for example, the Spanish Louise instead of the Italian Luigi.

Currently being traced tendency to simplify names instead of complex ones composite forms.

List of Italian girl names

Interesting facts about Italian girl names

Once upon a time in large families children were assigned names of numerals. This is how Quinta (“Fifth”), Settima (“Seventh”), and Ottorina (“Eighth”) were born.

In modern Italy When naming newborn girls, parents give preference to the following names: Alessia, Julia, Chiara (similar to the Russian Svetlana), Silvia, Sofia, Federica, Francesca and Elisa.

In the Apennines, friends like to call each other by diminutive nicknames, for example, Elisa is simply Eli for “their friends,” and Federica is Fede. However, Russians are popular there short forms are considered independent.

Often there are names that came from the addition of various word-forming elements (Antonella and Antonina arose from Antonio, Giovanella and Ianella from Giovanna) or vice versa abbreviation of previously popular names(Michinella and Minica descended from Domenica).

Some forms originally arose from the social title of their bearers (Regina means “queen”, Tessa means “countess”).

Since the middle of the last century in Italy are gaining popularity etymological names : Angela – “Angel”, Viva – “Vivat!”, Santa – “Saint”, Sevaja – “Rebel”, Felicita – “Happiness”.

The name Domenica is identical with one of the days of the week.

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Significant factors in the formation of names

Modern Italian names are largely of Roman origin, some of which are found in ancient myths. Interestingly, some of them during the reign Ancient Rome were only nicknames, which then lost their meaning and became full names. For example, Flavio means "fair-haired".

Not without the influence of the church: most of names was formed from the names of Catholic saints. These are such famous Italian names as Sofia, Madonna, Venus, Felice, Sergio, Carlo, Petro and others.

Modern Italian names for men were derived from Latin ones by replacing the ending –us with the Italian –o or –e. Options with the suffixes –ino, -ello, -iano are also popular: Andrea, Lorenzo, Davide, Mattia, Alessandro, Francesco, Antonio, Giovanni, Donatello, Adriano.

Name naming trends today

Popular Italian female names are formed from male names by changing the ending (-o to –a), as well as using the suffixes –ella, -ina, -etta: Chiara, Aurora, Aliche, Maria, Anna, Giuseppina, Juliet.

It should be noted that modern Italians, when choosing names for their children, gravitate more towards short and memorable options. And if a couple of generations ago the tradition of giving compound names(Pierpaolo, Giampiero), then today she is no longer held in high esteem. Nowadays, fashion influences are more about choosing names after sports idols and movie stars.
In Italy it is not easy for parents who decide to name their child unusual name. Registration authorities may not approve everything: the court may prohibit the use of a particular name if it may be in in a certain sense dangerous for the child. For example, a few years ago, a court forbade an Italian couple to name their child Friday.

Male names

Most male Italian names were formed from Latin prototypes by replacing the common ending -us with –o (less often –a or -e). Forms with diminutive suffixes, which end in -ino, -etto, -ello, -iano.

According to statistics collected a few years ago, boys in Italy are most often called Francesco (3.5%), Alessandro (3.2%), Andrea (2.9%), Matteo (2.9%), Lorenzo (2 .6%), Gabriele (2.4%), Mattia (2.2%), Riccardo (2%), Davide (1.9%), Luca (1.8%). It is worth noting that this list is strikingly different from what could be seen half a century ago, when the top three were Giuseppe, Giovanni and Antonio.

Female names

Most male names also have a feminine form, changing the ending -o to -a. The names of saints are very popular, as well as variants with the endings -ella, -etta, -ina.

The most common female names today are Julia (3.5%), Sofia (3.2%), Martina (2.6%), Sarah (2.6%), Chiara (2.3%), Georgia ( 2.1%), Aurora (1.8%), Alessia (1.8%), Francesca (1.6%), Aliche (1.6%). In the middle of the last century, girls were most often called Maria, Anna and Giuseppina.

In general, if you take a list of the thirty most popular names in Italy, then their owners will be 50% of men and 45% of women.

Rare and ancient names

As already mentioned, in the past, very often a child’s name was given in honor of a saint. But even then many of them were very unusual and rare: Castenza, Calcedonio, Baltassare, Cipriano, Egidio. The use of such names was limited to areas where these saints were well known and revered. But non-religious names in the times of Christianity might not appear at all in civil registration documents: it was often replaced by the closest sounding Christian analogue or was not indicated at all.

During the conquests of the Franks, Normans and Lombards, such Italianized versions as Arduino, Ruggiero, Grimaldo, Teobaldo appeared. Before the rise of the Inquisition, Jewish and Arabic names, but later almost completely disappeared.

Among Christian names, the majority are Roman Latin, but there are also Greek ones: Ippolito, Sophia. Some Orthodox variants were Latinized and adopted in Catholic society: Yuri turned into Yorio, Nikola into Nikolo.

Another category of disappeared names are those that were supplanted more modern version. For example, the name Louise, which is of Spanish origin, is quite widely used today, while the original Italian sounds like Luigia.

Some novice researchers confuse some very similar names with Italian names. For example, the name Donna is not an Italian name at all. Or rather, such a word exists in Italian, but is widely used exclusively as a designation for a woman. But Madonna is a traditional Italian name, which was quite common in the old days.

In the Middle Ages, the country had big influence Piedmonese and Sicilian dialects, which brought with them a considerable number of names specific to themselves. They lost popularity and disappeared when the Tuscan dialect was recognized as the official language. Thus, immediately large group names that prevailed in the 16th century were completely forgotten in the 18th century. Surprisingly, part of this group was revived in the last century, when there was a surge of interest in them among the bourgeois class that emerged at that time.

Finding the roots of rare ancient names today is quite difficult. Most of the records were lost, and scientists prefer to focus on the records of the southern regions, as the most complete and reliable. This is how the origin of the names Milvia and Milvio, which was common in the Albanian communities in the south and in Rome, was determined. They appeared after Constantine's victory on the Milvian Bridge (Ponte Milvio).

Enough interesting class medieval names are derivatives of a common name, formed using suffixes. This was often done with the names of children named after older relatives, in order to simultaneously indicate both kinship and individuality. From Antonio came Antonello and Antonino, as well as Antonella and Antonina, from Caterina - Catrinella, from Margarita - Margaritella, from Giovanni and Giovanna - Giovanello, Giovanella, Ianella and Janella.

Barbaro is men's uniform named Barbara, and Barbriano comes from male version. The names Mintsiko and Masullo also come from the female Mintsika and Misulla. Geronimo is an obsolete version of the name Gerolamo. And the name Cola is nothing more than a shortening of Nikola, like Toro, which has nothing to do with bulls (toro), but only represents short form from Salvatore. Bastiano is a shortened form of the name Sebastiano. Minico, Minica, Minichello and Minichella come from the previously common names Domenico and Domenica.

Several names are derived from the titles of their masters. For example, Marquise, Tessa (from contessa - countess), Regina (queen). In fact, the name Regina does not refer to royalty, but refers to Mary, the mother of Christ. From Mary came the forms Mariella and Mariuccia.

The names of saints were not always ancient origin. In old records you can find such options as Providenza (providence), Felicia (well-being), Dea (dea - goddess), Potency (Potenzia - power), Vergine and Virgin (chastity), Madonna, Santa (saint), Bellissima (beauty), Venus, Boniface and Benefacia, Doniza (bestowed), Violanti (fury), Mercurio and the name of unknown origin Shumi (Xhumi).
The female names Orestina, Furella, Fiuri, Ferenzina, Cumonau and Doniza were unusual even in the 16th century, as were the male names Valli, Zalli, Galiotto, Manto, Vespristiano and Angiolino.

As in Russia, any Italian has a first and last name. At least since the 16th century, a tradition has developed in Italy of naming children after their ancestors., so the first son received the name of his paternal grandfather, then the first daughter received the name of his paternal grandmother, and the second son received the name of his maternal grandfather, and the second daughter received the name of her maternal grandmother. The remaining children received the names of their parents, or the names of their closest unmarried or deceased uncles and aunts. Because of this custom, the same names are repeated in Italian families from generation to generation.

Most of the names given to children at birth in Italy are from the names of saints of the Roman Catholic Church.

According to sociological research center, Italian mothers and fathers with enviable consistency prefer to name their newborns boys - Francesco And girls - Julia. Other names included in the list of the most common in Italy: Alessandro, Mateo, Marco, Lorenzo - for the stronger sex and Sarah, Sofia, Elisa - for residents of the Apennines.

These are the most traditional names how Maria, Nicola and Stefano are losing their popularity among young modern parents. They follow new fashion trends and personal, sometimes extravagant taste.

Several lovers of Pablo Picasso's work named their sons Nepomuken (one of the artist's many names). The “symbiosis” of actor Johnny Depp and the legendary Brazilian football player Pele became official name boy Pejon. U true patriots daughters bear the proud name Italy.

And yet the question “what to call it?” depends on the religious and cultural preferences of the population of the regions of the peninsula. Italians Mateo live mostly in the north of the country, but Giuseppe and Laura are “legitimate” southerners and Sicilians. Thus, Giuseppe's parents pay tribute to Saint Giuseppe, the patron saint of the poor and disadvantaged, and the hero of Italy, the fighter for its unification, Giuseppe Garibaldi. And the beautiful senoritas of Laura, it seems, have to thank the beloved of the great Dante Alighieri for their name.