Carly writes:<\/p>\n
We are due with our first baby, a boy, in April and my husband and I are having trouble finding a name.<\/p>\n
To give some background information, I’m Irish and my husband is Italian, 1st generation. I’ve always been a fan of ethnic names so I’d like to find something Italian to match our very Italian last name pronounced door-ahz-io.<\/p>\n
We were all set with girls name options (Luciana, Viviana, Valentina) with middle name Willa in honor of my lost little brother Ryan William. Our middle name for our son will be Ryan, even though it doesn’t “match” with any of the Italian-ness going on.<\/p>\n
Our names are Matthew and Carly and we have two dogs, Sugar and Gus, and a cat, Jasper. We do hope to have more children in the future.<\/p>\n
After going through some extensive exercises of writing top 5 lists and comparing and then comparing some more, we’ve each narrowed our favorites down to 1. (Well I have 2, whoops!)<\/p>\n
\u00b7 My husbands favorite is Marcello (pronounced mar-chel-lo), and while I don’t hate it, I also don’t love it. We’ve discussed nicknames and none stand out to me as a good fit. Marc, Marco, Marcus, March, Cello, Lo?<\/p>\n
\u00b7 My favorite is Santino and we would call him Santi or Santos. (My runner up is Xavier, it’s been on my list since I was in grade school, but the hubbie thinks it’s “weird”?)<\/p>\n
Anyway, can you give some insight on what you think of these two names, or perhaps some other names that might seem to fit?<\/p>\n
Thank you so much!
Carly<\/p>\nPS: Here is a small list of names that one of us liked but was dismissed<\/p>\n
Theo
Dominic (most likely still on the list, but not at the top)
Milo
Sebastian
Vincenzo
Mason
Lucas
Dante
Elias
Damian
Cruz<\/p>\nPPS: I absolutely promise to write back with an update on what we’ve chosen!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I know very little about Italian names, so I’m working here with the Italian sections of The Baby Name Wizard<\/a>, The Best Baby Names in the World From Around the World<\/a>, and The Oxford Dictionary of First Names<\/a>. I’m trying to choose names that will sound good in the U.S., which could very well mean I’m choosing the names that in actual Italy would sound like Erwin and Dudley. <\/p>\n
I have a long-running campaign to promote the name Karl, which I think is vastly underused. Recently a celebrity named a baby boy Carlo, which seemed like it had potential for helping to bring the name into use: the popular o-ending! Plus, while still being definitely Italian, it’s recognized and easy to spell and pronounce. So that is my first suggestion: Carlo Ryan Doorahzio. It might be too close to Carly, or it might be a nice way to combine names: the father’s surname and an Italian first name—but one that reflects the mother’s name.<\/p>\n
Matteo has been rising in popularity, perhaps also because of that o-ending. It gives the nicknames Matt and also Teo (TAY-o). As pointed out in the comments section, this might be too close to the name Matthew—or it might be a nice namesake name without being a junior, especially if he goes mostly by Teo.<\/p>\n
Or Nico would be nice. Nico Ryan Doorahzio.<\/p>\n
I’m also drawn to the Gian- names. I think those sound handsome. I like Giancarlo even more than Carlo. Gianluca would give him the nicknames Luca and Luke.<\/p>\n