The Southern European country of Italy — that boot-shaped peninsula that juts out into the Mediterranean Sea — shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia.
Last year, Italy welcomed 400,249 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Leonardo.
Here are Italy’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:
Girl Names
- Sofia, 5,578 baby girls (2.86%)
- Aurora, 4,991
- Giulia, 4,616
- Ginevra, 3,803
- Beatrice, 3,647
- Alice, 3,392
- Vittoria, 3,202
- Emma, 2,876
- Ludovica, 2,813
- Matilde, 2,633
- Giorgia, 2,359
- Camilla, 2,343
- Chiara, 2,320
- Anna, 2,291
- Bianca, 2,201
- Nicole, 2,169
- Gaia, 2,088
- Martina, 2,069
- Greta, 2,052
- Azzurra, 1,673
- Sara, 1,651
- Arianna, 1,647
- Noemi, 1,639
- Rebecca, 1,533
- Mia, 1,494
- Isabel, 1,422
- Adele, 1,349
- Chloe, 1,317
- Elena, 1,298
- Francesca, 1,260
- Gioia, 1,202
- Ambra, 1,171
- Viola, 1,152
- Carlotta, 1,149
- Cecilia, 1,144
- Diana, 1,117
- Alessia, 1,101
- Elisa, 1,086
- Emily, 1,070
- Marta, 1,066
- Maria, 989
- Margherita, 988
- Anita, 978
- Giada, 972
- Eleonora, 926
- Nina, 856
- Miriam, 842
- Asia, 823
- Amelia, 805
- Diletta, 804 – means “beloved” in Italian.
Boy Names
- Leonardo, 8,448 baby boys (4.12%)
- Alessandro, 4,975
- Tommaso, 4,973
- Francesco, 4,924
- Lorenzo, 4,642
- Edoardo, 4,369
- Mattia, 4,215
- Riccardo, 3,992
- Gabriele, 3,944
- Andrea, 3,860
- Diego, 2,946
- Matteo, 2,867
- Nicolò, 2,847
- Giuseppe, 2,740
- Antonio, 2,598
- Federico, 2,546
- Pietro, 2,247
- Samuele, 2,225
- Giovanni, 2,211
- Filippo, 2,113
- Enea, 1,963 – form of Aeneas.
- According to Greek mythology, the Trojan hero Aeneas was an ancestor of twins Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. One ancient source associates Aeneas’ name with the Greek adjective ainos, meaning “unspeakable, causing nervousness, fear, terror.”
- Davide, 1,925
- Christian, 1,738
- Gioele, 1,722
- Giulio, 1,713
- Michele, 1,685
- Marco, 1,541
- Gabriel, 1,439
- Elia, 1,403
- Luca, 1,400
- Salvatore, 1,374
- Vincenzo, 1,333
- Emanuele, 1,326
- Thomas, 1,322
- Alessio, 1,251
- Giacomo, 1,197
- Nathan, 1,192
- Liam, 1,174
- Simone, 1,166
- Samuel, 1,133
- Jacopo, 1,129
- Noah, 1,097
- Daniele, 1,050
- Giorgio, 1,025
- Ettore, 1,002 – form of Hector.
- Luigi, 996
- Daniel, 946
- Manuel, 936
- Nicola, 859
- Damiano, 830
Leonardo is still the clear favorite for baby boys, while Azzurra — no doubt inspired by Italy’s national soccer team gli Azzurri, “the Blues” — continues its rise among baby girls:
Here are Italy’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Sources: How many babies are named…? – Istat, Istat Statistics, Behind the Name, Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite (transl. by Gregory Nagy)
Image: Adapted from Flag of Italy (public domain). Graph from Istat.
