Baby Name: Christian

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

1. Sofia, 5,578 baby girls (2.86%)
2. Aurora, 4,991
3. Giulia, 4,616
4. Ginevra, 3,803
5. Beatrice, 3,647
6. Alice, 3,392
7. Vittoria, 3,202
8. Emma, 2,876
9. Ludovica, 2,813
10. Matilde, 2,633
11. Giorgia, 2,359
12. Camilla, 2,343
13. Chiara, 2,320
14. Anna, 2,291
15. Bianca, 2,201
16. Nicole, 2,169
17. Gaia, 2,088
18. Martina, 2,069
19. Greta, 2,052
20. Azzurra, 1,673
21. Sara, 1,651
22. Arianna, 1,647
23. Noemi, 1,639
24. Rebecca, 1,533
25. Mia, 1,494
26. Isabel, 1,422
27. Adele, 1,349
28. Chloe, 1,317
29. Elena, 1,298
30. Francesca, 1,260
31. Gioia, 1,202
32. Ambra, 1,171
33. Viola, 1,152
34. Carlotta, 1,149
35. Cecilia, 1,144
36. Diana, 1,117
37. Alessia, 1,101
38. Elisa, 1,086
39. Emily, 1,070
40. Marta, 1,066
41. Maria, 989
42. Margherita, 988
43. Anita, 978
44. Giada, 972
45. Eleonora, 926
46. Nina, 856
47. Miriam, 842
48. Asia, 823
49. Amelia, 805
50. Diletta, 804 – means “beloved” in Italian.

Boy Names

1. Leonardo, 8,448 baby boys (4.12%)
2. Alessandro, 4,975
3. Tommaso, 4,973
4. Francesco, 4,924
5. Lorenzo, 4,642
6. Edoardo, 4,369
7. Mattia, 4,215
8. Riccardo, 3,992
9. Gabriele, 3,944
10. Andrea, 3,860
11. Diego, 2,946
12. Matteo, 2,867
13. Nicolò, 2,847
14. Giuseppe, 2,740
15. Antonio, 2,598
16. Federico, 2,546
17. Pietro, 2,247
18. Samuele, 2,225
19. Giovanni, 2,211
20. Filippo, 2,113
21. 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.”
22. Davide, 1,925
23. Christian, 1,738
24. Gioele, 1,722
25. Giulio, 1,713
26. Michele, 1,685
27. Marco, 1,541
28. Gabriel, 1,439
29. Elia, 1,403
30. Luca, 1,400
31. Salvatore, 1,374
32. Vincenzo, 1,333
33. Emanuele, 1,326
34. Thomas, 1,322
35. Alessio, 1,251
36. Giacomo, 1,197
37. Nathan, 1,192
38. Liam, 1,174
39. Simone, 1,166
40. Samuel, 1,133
41. Jacopo, 1,129
42. Noah, 1,097
43. Daniele, 1,050
44. Giorgio, 1,025
45. Ettore, 1,002 – form of Hector.
46. Luigi, 996
47. Daniel, 946
48. Manuel, 936
49. Nicola, 859
50. 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)