Popular baby names in Italy, 2023

In 2023, the Southern European country of Italy welcomed 379,890 babies — 184,514 girls and 195,376 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Leonardo, yet again.

Here are Italy’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

1. Sofia, 4,971 baby girls
2. Aurora, 4,648
3. Ginevra, 4,274
4. Vittoria, 4,194
5. Giulia, 3,732
6. Beatrice, 3,425 – pronounced beh-a-TREE-cheh
7. Ludovica, 3,157
8. Alice, 3,014 – pronounced a-LEE-cheh
9. Emma, 2,529
10. Matilde, 2,465
11. Anna, 2,128
12. Camilla, 2,091
13. Bianca, 1,992
14. Azzurra, 1,922
15. Chiara, 1,914 – pronounced KYAH-rah
16. Nicole, 1,792
17. Giorgia, 1,780
18. Isabel, 1,667
19. Greta, 1,635
20. Noemi, 1,439
21. Martina, 1,392
22. Arianna, 1,389
23. Gaia, 1,370
24. Sara, 1,368
25. Rebecca, 1,328
26. Viola, 1,325
27. Elena, 1,270
28. Ambra, 1,257
29. Chloe, 1,196 (tie)
30. Diana, 1,196 (tie)
31. Adele, 1,194
32. Mia, 1,192
33. Margherita, 1,095
34. Sole, 1,088 – pronounced SOH-leh
35. Francesca, 1,082
36. Cecilia, 1,060
37. Gioia, 1,018
38. Emily, 1,017
39. Marta, 964
40. Elisa, 953
41. Nina, 929
42. Lavinia, 912
43. Anita, 875
44. Amelia, 870
45. Eleonora, 853
46. Carlotta, 833
47. Maria, 803
48. Celeste, 788
49. Eva, 751
50. Giada, 735

Boy names

1. Leonardo, 7,096 baby boys
2. Edoardo, 5,603
3. Tommaso, 4,687
4. Francesco, 4,534
5. Alessandro, 4,383
6. Mattia, 4,349
7. Lorenzo, 4,006
8. Gabriele, 3,954
9. Riccardo, 3,600
10. Andrea, 3,333
11. Diego, 2,722
12. Giuseppe, 2,661
13. Matteo, 2,648
14. Enea, 2,564
15. Nicolò, 2,444
16. Antonio, 2,424
17. Federico, 2,313
18. Giovanni, 2,093
19. Filippo, 2,046
20. Samuele, 2,041
21. Pietro, 1,993
22. Giulio, 1,749
23. Gioele, 1,641 – pronounced jo-EH-leh
24. Davide, 1,597
25. Michele, 1,590
26. Christian, 1,541
27. Elia, 1,522
28. Gabriel, 1,497
29. Noah, 1,386
30. Marco, 1,353
31. Salvatore, 1,324
32. Liam, 1,236
33. Luca, 1,230
34. Vincenzo, 1,211
35. Thomas, 1,146
36. Emanuele, 1,100
37. Alessio, 1,056
38. Nathan, 1,007
39. Giorgio, 1,006
40. Samuel, 1,005
41. Jacopo, 1,002
42. Giacomo, 1,000
43. Ettore, 970
44. Raffael, 900
45. Daniele, 899
46. Simone, 892
47. Luigi, 886
48. Damiano, 830
49. Domenico, 818
50. Santiago, 798

The girls’ top 100 included Anastasia (57th), Sveva (75th), Mariasole (83rd), and Letizia (97th).

The boys’ top 100 included Ludovico (56th), Niccolò (66th), Brando (73rd), and Ciro (94th).

The girl name Azzurra (which is associated with Italy’s national soccer team gli Azzurri, “the Blues”) ranked 20th in both 2022 and 2021 before jumping to 12th place last year.

Speaking of soccer…I recently learned that Italian soccer star Francesco Totti (who played for AS Roma from 1993 to 2017) influenced baby names in Italy via the names of his three children:

• The usage of Cristian rose after his son Cristian was born in November of 2005:
  • 2006: 3,028 boys named Cristian (rank: 25th)
  • 2005: 1,619 boys named Cristian (rank: 39th)
  • 2004: 1,616 boys named Cristian (rank: 38th)
• The usage of Chanel rose after his daughter Chanel was born in May of 2007:
  • 2008: 158 girls named Chanel (rank: 189th)
  • 2007: 63 girls named Chanel (rank: 314th)
  • 2006: fewer than five girls named Chanel
• The usage of Isabel rose after his daughter Isabel was born in March of 2016:
  • 2017: 1,218 girls named Isabel (rank: 36th)
  • 2016: 910 girls named Isabel (rank: 50th)
  • 2015: 570 girls named Isabel (rank: 69th)

Sources: Contanomi – Quante bambine e quanti bambini si chiamano…? – Istat, Leonardo e Sofia “tengono”, risale Francesco – Istat (Jan. 2024), IstatData

Image: Adapted from Flag of Italy (public domain)