Italian name


A name in the Italian language consists of a given name and a surname ; in most contexts, the given name is written before the surname, although in official documents, the surname may be written before the given name or names.
Italian names, with their fixed nome and cognome structure, differ from the ancient Roman naming conventions, which used a tripartite system of given name, gentile name, and hereditary or personal name.
The Italian nome is not analogous to the ancient Roman nomen; the Italian nome is the given name, while the Roman nomen is the gentile name. Female naming traditions, and name-changing rules after adoption for both sexes, likewise differ between Roman antiquity and modern Italian use. Moreover, the low number, and the steady decline of importance and variety, of Roman praenomina starkly contrast with the current number of Italian given names.
In Southern Italy, one portion in a person's name may be determined by the name day. These name days are determined according to the sanctorale, a cycle found in the General Roman Calendar, which assigns to a day a saint, so that different names often are celebrated on that day. Traditionally, parents fix the name day of their child at christening, according to their favourite saint; in case of different ones with the same name; that child will carry it throughout life. In the case of multiple given names, the child will celebrate only one, usually the first.

Given names

Typical Italian male given names:
  • Commonly end in -o: Alberto, Aldo, Alessio, Alessandro, Amedeo, Angelo, Antonio, Bernardo, Brando, Bruno, Carlo, Claudio, Cosimo, Cristiano, Damiano, Danilo, Dario, Domenico, ''Duccio, Edoardo, Elio, Emilio, Enrico, Eugenio, Fabio, Fabrizio, Federico, Ferdinando, Filippo, Flavio, Francesco, Franco, Fulvio, Giacomo, Giorgio, Giuliano, Giulio, Gregorio, Guglielmo, Guido, Jacopo, Lapo, Leandro, Leonardo, Lorenzo, Loriano, Luciano, Lucio, Ludovico, Marcello, Marco, Mario, Martino, Massimiliano, Massimo, Matteo, Maurizio, Mauro, Michelangelo, Milo, Mirco, Niccolò, Nico, Olmo, Orazio, Orlando, Ottavio, Paolo, Piero, Pietro, Raffaello, Riccardo, Roberto, Sandro, Saverio, Silvio, Stefano, Tiberio, Tito, Tiziano, Tommaso, Umberto, Valentino, Valerio, Vincenzo, Vittorio, Zeno, etc.
  • Can also end in -e: Achille, Cesare, Daniele, Dante, Davide, Emanuele, Ettore, Gabriele, Gioele, Giuseppe, Leone, Michele, Paride, Raffaele, Samuele, Simone, etc.
  • May also end in -i: Gianni, Giovanni, Luigi, Manfredi, Neri, Ranieri, Tancredi, Vieri, etc.
  • Or in -a: Andrea, Elia, Enea, Luca, Mattia, Nicola, Tobia
  • Some names, usually of foreign origin, end with a consonant, such as Christian/Cristian, Eros, Igor, Ivan, Loris, Oscar and Walter/Valter.
Typical Italian female names:
  • Commonly end in -a: Ada, Adriana, Agata, Allegra, Alba, Alessandra, Alessia, Alma, Amanda, Ambra, Amelia, Angela, Angelica, Anita, Anna, Antonella, Arianna, Aurelia, Aurora, Azzurra, Benedetta, Bianca, Camilla, Carla, Carlotta, Carola, Carolina, Caterina, Catia, Cecilia, Chiara, Cinzia, Clara, Clarissa, Claudia, Clelia, Clizia, Cora, Corinna, Cristiana, Cristina, Daniela, Delia, Diana, Domitilla, Elena, Elisa, Elisabetta, Eleonora, Elettra, Emanuela, Emilia, Emma, Erica, Eugenia, Eva, Federica, Fiorella, Flaminia, Flavia, Francesca, Fulvia, Gabriella, Gaia, Giada, Gianna, Ginevra, Giorgia, Giovanna, Giuditta, Giulia, Giuliana, Greta, Ilaria, Iolanda, Isabella, Iva, Lara, Larissa, Laura, Lavinia, Letizia, Libera, Lidia, Liliana, Linda, Lisa, Livia, Lucia, Lucrezia, Ludovica, Luisa, Maddalena, Manuela, Mara, Marcella, Margherita, Maria, Marianna, Marina, Marta, Martina, Marzia, Michela, Mina, Monica, Nadia, Nicoletta, Nora, Ofelia, Olivia, Ottavia, Paola, Patrizia, Raffaella, Rebecca, Rita, Roberta, Rosa, Sabrina, Samanta, Sandra, Sara, Serena, Silvia, Sofia, Sonia, Stefania, Stella, Susanna, Sveva, Tatiana, Teresa, Valentina, Valeria, Vanessa, Veronica, Viola, Virginia, Virna, Vittoria, Viviana, etc.
  • Can also end in -e: Adelaide, Adele, Agnese, Alice, Beatrice, Cloe, Iole, Irene, Luce, Matilde, Rachele, Sole, Violante, Zoe, etc.
  • May also end in -i: Edi, Noemi, etc.
  • Or even with a consonant, such as Ester, Ines, Iris, Micol, Miriam, etc.
A few names end with an accented vowel, for instance Niccolò.
Almost every base name can have a diminutive form ending with -ino/-ina, as in Carolina from Carola, Martina from Marta, or -etto/etta, or -ello/-ella. Diminutive forms can vary depending on the dialect.
The most common names are:
  • For males: Marco, Alessandro, Luca, Giovanni, Giuseppe, Roberto, Andrea, Stefano, Angelo, Francesco, Mario, Luigi.
  • For females: Anna, Maria, Sara, Laura, Aurora, Valentina, Giulia, Gianna, Angela, Giovanna, Sofia, Stella.
Since the ancient Romans had a very limited stock of given names, very few modern Italian given names are derived directly from the classical ones. A rare example would be Marco.
Some nomi were taken from classical clan names for their meanings or because they are euphonic, such as Emilio/Emilia, Valerio/Valeria, Claudio/Claudia, Orazio, Fabio, Flavio/Flavia.
When combined with a second given name, Giovanni and Pietro are commonly contracted to Gian- and Pier-, as in Giancarlo, Gianfranco, Gianluca, Gianluigi, Gianmarco, Giampaolo, Giampiero, Pierfrancesco, Piergiorgio, Pierluigi, Pierpaolo, and so on.
Italian unisex names are very rare, but the feminine name Maria can be used as a masculine second name, as in Carlo Maria, Gianmaria,'' etc.

Surnames

Italy has the largest collection of surnames of any country in the world, with over 350,000. Men—except slaves—in ancient Rome always had hereditary surnames, i.e., nomen and cognomen. However, the multi-name tradition was lost by the Middle Ages. Outside the aristocracy, where surnames were often patronymic or those of manors or fiefs, most Italians began to assume hereditary surnames around 1450.
Registration of baptisms and marriages became mandatory in parishes after the Council of Trent in 1564.

Suffixes

A large number of Italian surnames end in i due to the medieval Italian habit of identifying families by the name of the ancestors in the plural. For instance, Filippo from the Ormanno family would be called "Filippo degli Ormanni". In time, the middle possessive portion was dropped, but surnames became permanently pluralized even for a single person. Filippo Ormanno would therefore be known as Filippo Ormanni. Some families, however, opted to retain the possessive portion of their surnames, for instance Lorenzo de' Medici literally means "Lorenzo of the Medici". Another example of the use of plural suffix in Italian surnames is Manieri which is the plural form of Mainiero.
Some common suffixes indicate endearment, for example:
  • -ello/etto/ino, e.g., Morelli, Ferretti, Bellini
  • -one, e.g., Marconi
  • -accio/azzo/asso, e.g., Boccacci
Other endings are characteristic of certain regions:
  • Veneto: -asso, -ato/ati, and consonants ; -on: Bissacco, Zoccarato, Cavinato, Brombal, Bordin, Meneghin, Perin, Vazzoler, Peron, Francescon, Zanon, Fanton
  • Sicily: -aro, -isi and -osso: Cavallaro, Torrisi, Rosso
  • Lombardy and Piedmont: -ago/ghi, -engo/enghi : Salmoiraghi, Ornaghi, Martinengo, Giordanengo, Lambertenghi
  • Lombardy: -ate/ati/atti: Lunati, Bonatti, Moratti, Orsatti
  • Piedmont: -ero, -audi, -asco,''-zzi, -ini: Ferrero, Rambaudi, Bonazzi, Baldovini
  • Friuli: -otti/utti and -t: Bortolotti, Pascutti, Codutti, Rigonat, Ret
  • Tuscany: -ai, -ini, -ucci: Niccolai, Puccini, Vannucci
  • Sardinia: -u, -as and -is, derived from the Sardinian language : Cadeddu, Schirru, Marras, Argiolas, Floris, Melis, Abis, Cannas
  • Calabria: -ace: Versace
  • Campania: -iello: Borriello, Aiello, Manganiello
  • Abruzzo: -us, -is and -iis'' that stem from traditional Latin names: Fidelibus, De Sanctis, De Laurentiis