Italian names & Their Plain Jane English Equivalen

I just thought this would be a little on the lighter side and fun 🤣

Giuseppe - Joseph or Joe
Salvatore - Sammy
Cristoforo - Christopher
Gianni - John or Johnny
Giovanni - also John or Johnny
Nicolo or Nicola - Nicholas or Nick or Nicky
Calogero - Charles or Charlie
Nicodemo - Same as Nicolo and Nicola
Antonio or Antonino - Anthony or Tony
Vittorio - Victor or Vic
Samuele - Sam or Sammy
Emanuele - Manny

Speaking of English equivalents, I noticed that Italians named Vincenzo often become "Jimmy" in America, but why? In theory, the English name for Vincenzo is Vincent, while Jimmy/James is Giacomo.

That's a good point

I'm Salvatore and I'm called Sal(obviously), Sally, Sam and Sammy.

I refer to myself as Sal

Enrico = Henry
Riccardo = Richard
Tommaso = Thomas
Ruggero = Roger
Andrea = Andrew

Some names don't have an equivalent though, I think. Like these ones:

Santo
Pasquale
Gaetano (although sometimes is modified to Tommy/Thomas)
Ignazio
Mario
Angelo
Vito

A few more:

Vincenzo - Vincent or Vinny
Gaetano - Thomas or Tommy or Tom
Eugenio - Eugene or Gene
Michele - Michael or Mike or Mickey
Michelangelo - Same as Michele
Donato - Donald or Donnie or Don
Donatello - Same as Donato
Raffaele - Ralph or Ralphie
Leonardo - Leonard or Lenny, or Leo (I guess we could argue that Leo is still Italian)
Davide - David or Dave
Beniamino - Benjamin or Ben or Benny
Gennaro - Gerald or Gerry or Genny
Gerardo - Gerard or Gerry

I had an uncle Sebastiano we called Bud for some reason.

Sebastiano could easily be changed to Sebastian

Great post!.... very interesting

Here's a few more for you guys;

Pasquale - Patrick, Patty, Paddy
Pasqualino - Paddy, Lino
Andonio - Andrew, Andy
Simone - Simon
Saverio - Xavier, often times 'Sammy' is also substituted
Pietro, Pietrino - Peter, Pete
Vito - William or Billy
Guigeliemo - William, Billy
Ignazio - Ignatius
Angelo - Angel
Martino - Martin
Luigi, Luigino - Louis, Louie
Benedetto - Benjamin, Benny
Francesco, Franco - Frank,
Alfredo, Federico - Afred, Fred, Freddy
Ferdinando - Frederick, Fred
Frederico - Frederick, Freddy
Ottilio, Ottaviano - Otto
Gaetano - Thomas, Tommy
Tommaso - Thomas, Tommy
Alberto - Albert, Al
Giacomo - Jack, Jake
Gioacchino - Jack, Jackie
Filippo - Philip
Domenico, - Dominick, Nicky
Nicola, Nicolo - Nicholas, Nick
Ilario, Lorenzo - Lawrence, Larry
Matteo - Matthew, Matty
Paolo, Paolino - Paul
Raimondo - Raymond, Ray
Ugo - Hugh
Eduardo - Edward, Eddie
Alessandro - Alexander, Alex, Al
Alfonso, - Alphonse, Al
Carmina - Carmine, Carmen
Giorgio - George
Girolamo - Gerald, Jerry
Gerlando - Gerald, Jerry
Gerardo - Gerard, Jerry
Umberto - Herbert, Bert
Enrico, Rico - Henry, Harry
Aniello - Neal
Ettore - Edward, Eddie, Terence, Terry
Robert, Robertino - Robert, Bobby, Robby
Arturo - Arthur, Artie
Stefano - Stephen, Steve
Natale - Nathan, Nart
Camillo - Camille, Carmen
Bernardo - Bernard, Bernie
Carlo - Carl
Felice - Philip, Philly
Daniele - Daniel, Danny
Savino - Sam
Salvino - Sal, Sam
Cristoforo - Christopher, Chris
Andimo - Andy
Luciano - Louis, Lou
Virgilio - Virgil
Adolfo - Adolph, Al
Rudolfo - Rudy, Rudolph


Heres a few real tough ones that don't readily have an English equivalent (to the best of my knowledge) LOL

Generoso
Modesto
Mario
Ciro
Cosmo
Innocenzio
Sereno
Cirino
Gaspare
Rosario
Rocco
Nunzio
Orlando

Good luck with these fellas! LOL

Gaspare = Jasper
Orlando = Roland

For the others, I don't know....Ciro may be "Cyrus" though, but I am not sure if it's ever used in English, apart from the references to Persian kings in history books.

My son has a friend named Ciro. He goes by Ciro. Though they pronounce wrong. Says it like Siro instead of chee row

nice thread
but today's italian americans are still goin for the traditional names ?
because i've seen a lot of younger guys names :
kevin
patrick
justin
and more of those names

Good point there, they've assimilated a lot and it has played a lot into LCN's downfall.

Yeah, you'll see americanized named like that given by parents who are themselves americanized and don't have a clue, or don't follow Italian tradition anymore. Or where parents have split ethnicities such, or intermarry with other nationalities, who pick names not in keeping with Italian surnames such as; Kevin Coppola, Patrick Horowitz, Justin Notarbartolo, etc. Lol

The first and last names don't really correlate with one another but what are you gonna do? Today it's a whole different ballgame.

You can go from Pasquale to Patrick, but Kevin...Justin...Trevor...Jason...Kenneth...

"Walden...the fuck kinda name is that for an Italian?"

In the cases of strange names even for an italian like Pancrazio,Elia,ecc some people use another name for be called by parents and friends.



Generoso= Gene or Jerry
Modesto
Mario
Ciro
Cosmo
Innocenzio = Enzo
Sereno
Cirino
Gaspare = Jasper
Rosario = Ross
Rocco
Nunzio =
Orlando = Lando

Rosario - Ross
Lorenzo - Larry
Gaspare - Jasper
Luigi - Louis

And of course all the variations of Louis

Yeah Kevin, Trevor, Jason, and Kenneth sound white as fuck.

Ha ... my wife named her son Ryan. He's 4th gen Italian and she Irish'd him.

I agree SalB, these whacky combos of blending Italian first and surnames with those of other ethnicities is a bit off for me.

It just doesn't flow correctly IMO.

I do understand the blending of names between the two families that marry to 'honor' both sides of the family, but some of the combo's are tough on the ear. LOL

Girolamo Santuccio was called James. So we have a 3rd English variation here.

I had a great-grandfather who's name was Pasquale but sometimes went by the anglicized form of Paschal on documents.

LOL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8iPUK0AGRo

"I was named after Mr. Bobby Darin. Walden Robert Cassotto"

Same here! On documents they translated my great-grandfather's name to Paschall. I don't even know how my great-grandfather made the trip over here in his 80's a few years before WW2 kicked off.

My grandfather's name was Giacomo, and had a son named James. I've also read Giacomo could mean Jacob.

There was a Colombo associate who got deported back to Italy a few years ago who had the first name Walter. I always found it to be a strange name for a guy born in Italy, his parents might have went back and forth from Italy and the US.

Walter is not uncommon in the far North of Italy...you got to remember in the North of Italy that used to be Austria 110 years ago...

I never knew that was a common name there, this guy was Sicilian by the way. I got family from Germany that are Roma. They got a family tree picture and the great-grandfather name was Adolph, which I believe is a banned name in Germany now.

Adolph is called Adolfo in the Italian language.

Walter is a moder form of Gualtiero,that come to Italy after Water Scott novel Ivanoé.One of my uncles name is Moses,also very rare as name.

There was also Ludwig Bruschi from the Genovese family, also an unusual name for an Italian.

Probably Luigi. Conrad Ianniello genovese capo also has a German name.

Thanks for all the input