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Come ti chiami? (What’s your name?) is the question we Italians will hear a million times in our lifetime. We get assigned a name at birth, and we learn to live with it.
The ancient Romans used to say nomen omen (the name is a destiny), and some evidence suggests the name we are given actually affects our personality and who we become.
Italians will fondly remember Massimo Troisi opining on the subject in the movie Ricomincio da tre. His theory was that “Massimiliano” was too long, so the child would have too much time to get away from the mother calling him back. That would lead to spoiling the kid. “Ugo” would recall the child too quickly. So it would make the child too repressed. He concluded the right compromise was Ciro.
The names, for the most part, can also tell us something about the person’s generation and at times even the geographic location. “Giuseppe” will make you think of a nonno. “Addolorata” a nonna from the south. By the way, Ciro also tells you that the person is very likely from Campania.
Italians, especially the more tacky ones, have begun appropriating English names and misspelling them or combining them with native names. So you get “gems” like Maicol or Kevin Ciro. (And middle names are uncommon in Italy.)
Most female names end with an “a,” but there are false positives. For example, Andrea was the top name for baby boys in Italy in the year 2000. You likely pictured a girl. But Italians are actually right in this case. Andrea comes from the Greek for “manly,” and we have been giving it to sons since the apostle.
I got curious to see how the top baby boys’ and baby girls’ names have changed over the years and went looking for official sources.
The catch is that Italy had no official national ranking of baby names until 1999, when ISTAT (the national statistics institute) started publishing one. So I figured I’d publish the names as a three-generation story: a clean 25-year jump for the most recent data and a more approximate list from the first half of the 20th century. Stick around for the old name that still rules Sicily.
The nonni names
For Italians born between 1900 and 1950, the best evidence comes from linguists Alda Rossebastiano and Elena Papa, who worked from Finance Ministry records.
Their top names for 1900 and 1950 are the same cast, shuffled. In no particular order:
Boys
Giuseppe (“he will add,” from Hebrew)
Giovanni (“God is gracious”)
Antonio (a Roman family name of unknown Etruscan origin)
Vincenzo (“to conquer”)
Mario (from Mars, or from the Latin for “male,” depending on which scholar you ask)
Both of my grandfathers appear in this short list.
Girls
Maria (meaning disputed, “beloved” is likely)
Anna (“grace”)
Rosa (“rose”)
Lucia (from the Latin lux, light)
Carmela (after Our Lady of Mount Carmel, from the Hebrew for “garden”)
My mom, sister, aunt, and one grandmother appear in the short list.
The system ran on saints, the Madonna (i.e., Maria), and grandparents. In much of the south, the first son took his paternal grandfather’s name, which is how one family ends up with four cousins called Giuseppe. It’s also how I ended up with the name Antonio. (Girls too inherited their grandma’s name.)
The 1990s crack
By 1994, the old top names were losing their grip. Maria had slipped to third, with Francesca now second. Among boys, only Francesco, Giuseppe and Antonio were still near the top, as parents favored Andrea, Marco, Luca, Matteo, Simone and Davide.
Then ISTAT started counting. Here is 2000 next to 2025, exactly 25 years apart.
Italian baby names, 2000 vs 2025
Leonardo was 20th in 2000 and has been first since 2018. Sofia was 12th and has led every year since 2010. Alessia, the queen of 2000, had dropped out of the top 50 by 2023.
Only two names held their exact spot across the quarter century: Alessandro at fourth and Alice at ninth. Everyone else moved.
What the top Italian baby names mean
Boys, 2025:
Leonardo: “brave lion,” from Germanic roots
Edoardo: “rich guard,” the Italian Edward
Tommaso: “twin,” from Aramaic
Alessandro: “defending men,” from Greek
Francesco: “Frenchman.” Saint Francis of Assisi was christened Giovanni, and his father, who admired the French, nicknamed him Francesco
Lorenzo: “from Laurentum,” an ancient town whose name probably comes from the laurel
Mattia: “gift of God,” the Italian Matthias
Gabriele: “God is my strong man,” from Hebrew
Riccardo: “brave ruler”
Andrea: “manly,” as mentioned
Girls, 2025:
Sofia: “wisdom,” in Greek
Aurora: “dawn,” still the everyday Italian word for it
Ginevra: the Italian Guinevere, from Welsh roots meaning “white phantom”
Vittoria: “victory”
Beatrice: probably from the Latin for “voyager,” later reshaped by beatus, “blessed” (also, Dante’s muse)
Giulia: the feminine of Julius, Caesar’s family name
Matilde: “strength in battle”
Ludovica: “famous in battle,” the feminine of Ludovico, Italy’s Louis
Alice: from the same Germanic name as Adelaide, meaning “nobility”
Camilla: a warrior maiden in Virgil’s Aeneid, from a Roman name probably of Etruscan origin and unknown meaning
One final thought
The south still names its sons after the nonni. In 2025, Antonio was the top boys’ name in Campania, Francesco led Puglia, Calabria and Basilicata, and Giuseppe ranked first in Sicily.
Giuseppe seems an awfully imposing name for a two-year-old, so nicknames are often used. Giuseppe becomes Peppe, Beppe, Peppino, Pino, Nino, and so on.
Leonardo squarely owns the country, but in the south, traditions have deeper roots and old names stick around.
How I write: I choose the topics, do the research and analysis, and bring the Italian perspective. AI helps me turn that into polished drafts faster and assists with data and charts. I review and edit everything, verify every source, and take responsibility for what I publish. This lets me bring you more (and better) articles. Grazie for reading!
“Ludovico, Italy’s Louis” So where does that leave Luigi? 🤔
It's fascinating to think about names. My name is Catania. The interesting thing is - I feel that I was fated to have this name. My mom had me in the late seventies, out of wedlock. My biological father is from Sicily.
The most interesting part of this story is, my mom and my bio dad broke up. She started working at a bank, and one of the clients had the surname: Catania. (This was in San Francisco, CA). She had no idea that the name was a Sicilian city, but she liked it.
And so, she named me, Catania. Three decades later, I'd find my bio dad on facebook, and restart a relationship. He was surprised to hear my name was a Sicilian city!
I would have to say, also, that my name has probably impacted me more than I realize. Anyway, just thought I'd share. Loved reading the article.