Italian boy names : popular Italian first names for baby boys.

Choosing baby first names is an important part of family life in Italy. We look at cultural traditions as well as the most popular twenty for boys.

Italian first names : regional traditions

Italian people will tell you that their first allegiance is to their mother, second to their village or town, and third to their region.

What you may not know is that regional influences can have an effect even on the names families choose for their babies.

'Romolo', for example, is one of the Italian first names name found typically in the Rome area; 'Brizio' is found only in parts of Umbria; and in our own village 'Michele' is the most favoured of baby first names after the patron saint of the village, St Michael the Archangel.

Baby first names and Italian family traditions

It's still customary in Italy for Italian first names to follow family tradition, particularly when it comes to Italian boy names. A first-born son is generally named after his father's father, the second son after his mother's father.

Only then will a son be named after his father, a favourite uncle, or a saint.

Italian first names and celebrity status

It's much less common in Italy than it is in, for example, the United States, to call a child after a sporting hero or a pop star. Italian names tend to stick with the time-honoured Italian first names passed down through the generations.

For that reason, you'll see in the list of top twenty Italian boy names below that the most popular first names for boys in Italy are fairly predictable.

Italian boy names and 'name days'

The tradition of 'name days' or 'saint's days' may have fallen out of favour in other countries but it's still alive and well in Italian family traditions.

The 'onomastico', as it's called, was once as big a day to celebrate as a birthday. Presents were given, greetings sent. These days it's really only the 'Mamma' and perhaps an aunt who will generally remember name days - except in the South of the country where the tradition is still important.

So if you have an Italian friend, find out when their 'onomastico' is and send them one of our free interactive e-cards - they'll be very impressed!

Top twenty Italian boy names, in order of popularity

Name	Meaning	Equivalent	Name day
Giuseppe (Beppe)	God-given son	Joseph	March 19th
Giovanni	God is gracious	John	June 24th
Antonio	Beyond praise	Anthony	January 17th or June 13th
Mario	Virile	No equivalent	January 19th
Luigi	Famous warrior	No equivalent	June 21st
Francesco (Franco)	Free	Francis	January 7th
Angelo	Messenger of god	No equivalent	Easter Monday
Vincenzo	Conquering	Vincent	January 22nd
Pietro	Rock	Peter	June 29th
Salvatore	Saviour	No equivalent	August 6th
Carlo	Free man	Charles	November 4th
Alessandro	Defender of mankind	Alexander	August 26th
Domenico	Belonging to the Lord	Dominic	January 22nd
Bruno	Brown-haired	Bruno	October 6th
Paolo	Modest	Paul	June 29th
Michele	God-like	Michael	September 29th
Giorgio	Farmer	George	April 23rd
Aldo	Wise one	No equivalent	January 10th
Sergio	Guardian	No equivalent	September 9th
Luciano	Light	No equivalent	January 7th