A monument to Varenna’s WWI dead. If your last name was Pensa ("think"), why would you name your child Innocente? Monuments like this also give clues to names which were once common but have now fallen out of popularity: Gaspare [GAHS-pah-ray], Eliseo [ell-lee-ZAY-oh], Oreste [oh-RES-tay], Sigismundo [sih-jiss-MOON-doh] and Corrado [cor-RAH-doh] are very rare today.
War memorial in Lecco: more names which are now rare (and might be considered funny):
- Ermenegildo [air-may-nay-JEEL-doh]
- Eufrasio [ey-you-FRAZ-ee-oh]
- Mansueto [mahn-SWAY-toh] ("gentle")
- Fortunato [for-too-NAH-toh] ("lucky," but this may also be the name of a saint)
- Onorato [on-oh-RAH-toh] ("honored")
- Severino [seh-veh-REEN-oh] (a saint)
- Domizio [doh-MEET-zee-oh] (Roman name)
- Calimero [cah-lee-MARE-oh]
- Arnaldo [are-NAHL-doh]
Wilma [VILL-mah] and Giuseppina [jews-ep-PEEN-ah] would be considered old-fashioned. Carolina [car-oh-LEAN-ah] is still current (my daughter has been at school with at least one Carolina).
- Ines [ee-NESS]
- Gioconda [joe-COND-ah] – In Italy, an alternate name for the Mona Lisa is La Gioconda. Note that this one was the widow of a Mr. Orfeo [or-FAY-oh] (Orpheus).
- Adalgisa [ah-DAHL-jizz-ah] – Very old-fashioned.
- Egidia [eh-GEE-dee-uh]
- Rosetta [Rose-ETT-uh]
- Cherubina [care-oo-BEAN-uh] – "Little Cherub" – Huh?!?
- Chiarina [kya-REE-nah] – unusual, but cute. A diminutive of Chiara [KYA-rah], meaning clear, transparent, or light.
- Achille = Achilles
- Valentino – well, you all know that one
- Ermanno – no less than two of them! = Herman
- Carmelo – very current in southern Italy
- Gottardo [go-TAR-doh] – a saint with an important Alpine mountain pass and two major highway tunnels named after him.
- Cesare [CHAY-za-ray] – Caesar. You knew that, right?
- Oreste [o-RESS-tay] – the Greek Orestes
- Edoardo Enrico – It’s unusual for an Italian to use a middle name in any context. My husband, for example, has several which may be on his baptismal certificate, but do not exist on his birth certificate or any other legal document, and which are never used. Beyond that, Edoardo [eh-doh-AR-do] and Enrico are both names that are not unusual, but not overly common, either.
- Piera – [pee-AIR-a or PYAIR-ah] Female version of Piero, of course.
- Candida [CAHN-did-ah] – Carries the connotation "white" or "pure."
- Armanda [ar-MAHN-dah]
- Quinto [KWEEN-toh] – "Fifth".
In some families it seems to have been the practice, dating back to Classical Rome, to give your children numbers rather than names: Primo, Secundo, etc. Or, having grown tired of trying to find names after the first few, the parents seem to take this easy way out. - Pierluigi – Pier is often used as a sort of adjunct to other (male) names: Piergiorgio, Pierluigi, even Piermaria (still a male name by virtue of the Pier on the front).
anything you can add on the lore and history of old-fashioned Italian names will be welcome
Ottorino does not mean eight, it’s a diminutive of the german name Otto, which indicates a rich man, someone with extensive possessions, a powerful man. The numerals names are used quite a lot in Emilia Romagna. My granny hs a cousin named Primo, and I have personally met a Settimo (by the time you tget to sevel children you are allowed to have exhausted your naming options!). Emilia also has the most unusual names. I have cousns named Waomi (prnounced “vaòmi”), which may be a corruption ow Wyoming! other members of my family are Nelso (it ought to be Nelson, but they didn’t knoiw about the final “n”), Vitige (she was a woman, but Vitige was a celtic chief that surrendered to Cesare), Dilva (???)…
my grandfather’s name is Antonio Bennedetto Molinari . Bennedetto must be extinct because I havent head of it and thats the middle name.
Great Blog!!! Enjoyed it immensely.
I teach languages – including Italian. My passion, however is Italian dialects. I am basically fluent in Sicilian (messinese) and have informally studied Neapolitan and others. Contrary to what you may have mentioned, the accent most widely used in the States is Neapolitan due to the millions of Italo-americans who claim ancestry from the Campania region – it is also universally understood by most other southerners. Sicilian has a very different cadence and never drops final vowels as in Neapolitan – that said it is Neapolitan that is mostly used and immitated by Americans – to the point where most Americans think that “FONGOOL” (not FUNGOO) means FUCK YOU in Italian.
Regarding names: there was, back in the days og huge families, strict rules for naming children – up to the 4th & 5th daughter. (at least in the South)
I’ll save that for another time.
PS Quattro would be, acc’d to your spelling, QUACCHRU not Quacchro.
Ciao, e tante belle cose!
Thanks – it’s always good to get info from real experts. I (to my shame) have as yet spent almost no time in southern Italy – something I hope to remedy when I have time from all my other travels!
Glad you read my comment. Haven’t spent much time in the Mezzogiorno? That’s like having foreplay without actual intercourse!!
Hope you get down there real soon. Here I am in NY with a wife, 2 kids and a mortgage, cringing everytime I look at the exchange rate and wishing I were in Taormina- my favorite place in the whole world and there you are so close….. ma non e’ giusto!!
Auguroni per le feste,
Patrizio
Just wanted to add a name…My grandmother’s name was Aqualina Petrocce. I have never heard of anyone else with this name. Very interesting web site! Also,to the gentlemen who’s middle name is Bennedetto, that was my uncle Angelo’s (uncle by marriage) last name, but I have never heard it used as a first name before.
My great grandmothers name was Liberata. Which I find pretty uncommon. But other than that we have all traditional names; Rita, Marietta, Ada, Palmina, Pietra, too many Dario’s! Somehow my mother stuck me with a Scottish name, but I’m hoping to sneak Liberata into one of my children’s middle names!
I am an Italian & Canadian citizen, fluent in both Italian & English. Just wanted to add some more ancient Italian names to the list:
Elfio, Guglielmo, Eufemia, Clelia, Cassia, Annunziata, Immacolata, Crucifissa, Gelsomina, Calogero, Igliana, Eufemio, Guido…there are a few for now!
I found LUPERDI as a girl’s Italian name twice
Do you know the origin of this name?
Thank You,
Maria
I love Italian names, combined with the Italian accent, they’re fantastic.
Italian Baby Names
Ciao:
In my family we have several aunts called Filomena, Fortunata, Ippolita and some cousins called Assunta and Annunziata. It has been through these “older” names that we have been able to track our genealogy around the world.
Interesting topic, vero?
my Sicilian grandmother’s name is Santa
When my ancestors came from Campania region(Morra De Sanctis) in early 1900’s they had beautiful romatic Italian names..Giuseppe, Maria, Angelo, Pasquale, Domenico, Rocco, Gerardo,Rosaria, Vincenzo. But to fit in the names changed to, or because there were mostly Irish teachers that where heavily inudated with Italian-Americans: Joseph, Mary, Angelo, Patrick, Dominick, Rocco,James, Rose and Vincent.
Anyway, I enjoyed the site very much.
Thank you. ps. Pennella was my family’s surname.