The country of Italy — which includes not only the boot-shaped Italian peninsula, but also various Mediterranean islands (including the two largest, Sicily and Sardinia) — shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia.
In 2022, Italy welcomed 393,333 babies — 190,493 girls and 202,840 boys.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Leonardo, for the fifth year in a row.
Here are Italy’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:
Girl Names
- Sofia, 5,465 baby girls
- Aurora, 4,900
- Giulia, 4,198
- Ginevra, 3,846
- Vittoria, 3,814
- Beatrice, 3,333 – pronounced beh-a-TREE-cheh
- Alice, 3,154 – pronounced a-LEE-cheh
- Ludovica, 3,103
- Emma, 2,800
- Matilde, 2,621
- Anna, 2,284
- Camilla, 2,253
- Chiara, 2,120 – pronounced KYAH-rah
- Giorgia, 2,089
- Bianca, 2,042
- Nicole, 2,001
- Greta, 1,929
- Gaia, 1,736
- Martina, 1,729
- Azzurra, 1,717
- Arianna, 1,560
- Sara, 1,542
- Noemi, 1,528
- Isabel, 1,420
- Rebecca, 1,394
- Chloe, 1,359
- Adele, 1,356
- Mia, 1,329
- Elena, 1,277
- Diana, 1,207
- Francesca, 1,145
- Ambra, 1,130
- Gioia, 1,123
- Cecilia, 1,119
- Viola, 1,100
- Elisa, 1,030
- Marta, 1,023
- Emily, 1,022
- Carlotta, 954
- Margherita, 918
- Sole, 916 – pronounced SOH-leh
- Anita, 879
- Maria, 876
- Eleonora, 866
- Amelia, 861
- Alessia, 851
- Nina, 831
- Luna, 828
- Giada, 818
- Sophie, 789
Boy Names
- Leonardo, 7,888 baby boys
- Francesco, 4,823
- Tommaso, 4,795
- Edoardo, 4,748
- Alessandro, 4,729
- Lorenzo, 4,493
- Mattia, 4,374
- Gabriele, 4,062
- Riccardo, 3,753
- Andrea, 3,604
- Diego, 2,824
- Nicolò, 2,747
- Matteo, 2,744
- Giuseppe, 2,735
- Federico, 2,563
- Antonio, 2,562
- Enea, 2,314
- Samuele, 2,230
- Giovanni, 2,173
- Pietro, 2,130
- Filippo, 2,018
- Davide, 1,830
- Giulio, 1,711
- Gioele, 1,695
- Christian, 1,653
- Michele, 1,612
- Gabriel, 1,533
- Luca, 1,464
- Marco, 1,433
- Elia, 1,418
- Salvatore, 1,417
- Vincenzo, 1,353
- Liam, 1,269
- Thomas, 1,259
- Emanuele, 1,220
- Noah, 1,200
- Alessio, 1,164
- Samuel, 1,140
- Nathan, 1,112
- Giacomo, 1,101
- Jacopo, 1,033
- Giorgio, 1,025
- Simone, 1,014
- Ettore, 1,008
- Luigi, 999
- Manuel, 996
- Damiano, 982
- Daniele, 930
- Domenico, 872
- Daniel, 869
I’d like to thank reader Daniele, who not only alerted me that Italy’s rankings came out early this year, but also generously offered explanations for a few of the fastest-rising names: Sole, Soleil, and Sophie.
Sole (Italian for “sun”), which was rarely used in the early 2000s, started picking up steam in the mid-2010s. Last year, it jumped into the top 50 for the first time. Daniele said that Sole’s rise “has been fueled by a few celebrity baby names.”
Sophie and Soleil (French for “sun”) are linked to influencers/TV personalities Sophie Codegoni and Soleil Sorge. Both women participated in the 6th season (2021-2022) of Grande Fratello VIP, which is the celebrity version of Grande Fratello (Italy’s Big Brother).
Soleil Sorge had become famous a few years earlier when she appeared on the 21st season (2016-2017) of the dating reality TV show Uomini e Donne (translation: Men and Women). Her name debuted in the Italian data in 2017:
- 2022: 474 baby girls named Soleil in Italy
- 2021: 144 baby girls named Soleil in Italy
- 2020: 98 baby girls named Soleil in Italy
- 2019: 104 baby girls named Soleil in Italy
- 2018: 78 baby girls named Soleil in Italy
- 2017: 74 baby girls named Soleil in Italy [debut]
- 2016: unlisted
- 2015: unlisted
(Italy’s baby name data — just like the U.S. data — includes only names given to five or more babies per year.)
Thank you so much, Daniele! :)
Other names currently on the rise in Italy include:
- Luna, Mariasole, Anastasia, Diana, Celeste (girl names)
- Ludovico, Ethan, Noah, Liam, Achille, Dylan, Enea (boy names)
Finally, here are Italy’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Sources: How many babies are named…? – Istat, Istat Statistics, Soleil Sorge – Wikipedia, Uomini e donne – Italian Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Flag of Italy (public domain). Graphs from Istat.
