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
- Sofia, 4,971 baby girls
- Aurora, 4,648
- Ginevra, 4,274
- Vittoria, 4,194
- Giulia, 3,732
- Beatrice, 3,425 – pronounced beh-a-TREE-cheh
- Ludovica, 3,157
- Alice, 3,014 – pronounced a-LEE-cheh
- Emma, 2,529
- Matilde, 2,465
- Anna, 2,128
- Camilla, 2,091
- Bianca, 1,992
- Azzurra, 1,922
- Chiara, 1,914 – pronounced KYAH-rah
- Nicole, 1,792
- Giorgia, 1,780
- Isabel, 1,667
- Greta, 1,635
- Noemi, 1,439
- Martina, 1,392
- Arianna, 1,389
- Gaia, 1,370
- Sara, 1,368
- Rebecca, 1,328
- Viola, 1,325
- Elena, 1,270
- Ambra, 1,257
- Chloe, 1,196 (tie)
- Diana, 1,196 (tie)
- Adele, 1,194
- Mia, 1,192
- Margherita, 1,095
- Sole, 1,088 – pronounced SOH-leh
- Francesca, 1,082
- Cecilia, 1,060
- Gioia, 1,018
- Emily, 1,017
- Marta, 964
- Elisa, 953
- Nina, 929
- Lavinia, 912
- Anita, 875
- Amelia, 870
- Eleonora, 853
- Carlotta, 833
- Maria, 803
- Celeste, 788
- Eva, 751
- Giada, 735
Boy names
- Leonardo, 7,096 baby boys
- Edoardo, 5,603
- Tommaso, 4,687
- Francesco, 4,534
- Alessandro, 4,383
- Mattia, 4,349
- Lorenzo, 4,006
- Gabriele, 3,954
- Riccardo, 3,600
- Andrea, 3,333
- Diego, 2,722
- Giuseppe, 2,661
- Matteo, 2,648
- Enea, 2,564
- Nicolò, 2,444
- Antonio, 2,424
- Federico, 2,313
- Giovanni, 2,093
- Filippo, 2,046
- Samuele, 2,041
- Pietro, 1,993
- Giulio, 1,749
- Gioele, 1,641 – pronounced jo-EH-leh
- Davide, 1,597
- Michele, 1,590
- Christian, 1,541
- Elia, 1,522
- Gabriel, 1,497
- Noah, 1,386
- Marco, 1,353
- Salvatore, 1,324
- Liam, 1,236
- Luca, 1,230
- Vincenzo, 1,211
- Thomas, 1,146
- Emanuele, 1,100
- Alessio, 1,056
- Nathan, 1,007
- Giorgio, 1,006
- Samuel, 1,005
- Jacopo, 1,002
- Giacomo, 1,000
- Ettore, 970
- Raffael, 900
- Daniele, 899
- Simone, 892
- Luigi, 886
- Damiano, 830
- Domenico, 818
- 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)
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