National Statistics Bureau ISTAT
After
a wave of Sue Ellens, Naomis and Kevins,
Italians are now back to doling out grandparent's names or those of patron
saints to the few precious bambini
they're having.
Other popular
names had a more regional influence, such as Matteo and Alessandro (Northern
Italy), Lorenzo
(Central Italy,
Foreign soap
opera and movie stars were a seductive fad and a constant hassle. Even though
the Italian alphabet reintroduced the letters K, J, H, W and X (they were
outlawed during Fascism) pronunciation was difficult and many parents resorted
to improbable spellings like Gessica, Illary --
pronounced E-larry -- and Gionatan (Jonathan)
to make sure fellow citizens could get the sound right.
Italian courts
only allow name changes in very limited circumstances -- so children are
saddled with these trendy monikers for good - and having to go through
life as Uma or Britney isn't one of them.
Celebrity Italians,
however, are still choosing strange names. Examples of guess-whose-kid-I-am
names, such as soccer star Francesco Totti's
daughter Chanel,
or actress Monica Bellucci's daughter Deva, in Italian
sounds like a contorted version of "have to" or "must."
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