The tradition and customary method of giving Italian boy names follows the paternal lineage or are patronymic in character. However, there are variations to the tradition of giving names to the person. It is easy to distinguish the gender/sex of an Italian-based name. Women names normally end in the “a”, while men have an “o” for the name’s last letter. As Italy is predominantly Catholic, many children are named after the saints. Italian boy names always have girl names counterparts. This is one unique characteristic of the Italians as far as naming children is concerned. Examples of these names are Angelo and Angela; Carlo and Carla; Francesco and Francesca.
The Italian tradition of naming can cause confusion especially for large families, because one name has many bearers. To solve this problem, the bearers are given nicknames that are reflective of a single unique characteristic of the bearer. Italian boy names normally observe this custom and traditionally, the best trait of the boy is recognized. The English or Anglicized forms of Italian names historically evolved, with slight changes in spelling and pronunciation appropriate to the English-speaking countries. The Italian-American culture has brought about a revolutionary change in the naming tradition, but did not change the original meanings of the Italian boy names.
What can gleam from this change? There are no laws or standard bases from which naming originated. But as a human right, every child deserves a name. This right is the responsibility of parents and the first gift that they could give their child. The moral obligation of parents in naming a child comes along with the love and concern from birth up to the time the child is able to support himself. The importance of giving Italian boy names and a name in general, follows the same principle – the name is a personal identity of a person from birth to death.