- Origin: Italian
- Meaning: “elm tree.”
- Gender: Male
- OLE-moh
The name comes directly from the Italian word for the elm tree.
Source
Olmo
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Tag Archives: Italian Names
Prosdocimus, Prosdocimo
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “awaited; expected.”
- Gender: Male
- It pron (prose-DOH-chee-mo)
Prosdocimus is a Late Latin form of the Greek Προσδόκιμος (Prosdokimos), derived from prosdokein, meaning “the awaited; the expected,” allegedly used for a long awaited child.
The name is best known from Saint Prosdocimus, a 1st-century Christian bishop and missionary of Greek origin, who evangelized the region around Patavium (Padua) in northern Italy. He is venerated as the first bishop and patron saint of Padua, and a major church, the Basilica di San Prosdocimo, adjoining the Abbey of Santa Giustina, bears his name. His cult was established early in the Christian era and remained locally important throughout the Middle Ages.
Because of the saint’s regional veneration, the given name Prosdocimo remained rare and was used mainly in the Veneto, occasionally appearing in baptismal records in Padua and neighboring areas. Outside northern Italy it has always been exceptional, preserved chiefly in ecclesiastical or hagiographic contexts.
The designated name-day is November 7th.
International Variations
- Būrūsdūsīmus بروسدوسيموس (Arabo-Coptic)
- Prosdòcim (Catalan)
- Prosdocime (French)
- Prosdozimus (German)
- Prosdokimos Προσδόκιμος (Greek)
- Prosdecimus (Late Latin)
- Prosdocym (Polish)
- Prosdócimo (Portuguese)
- Prosdociy, Prodocim Просдоций, Просдоцим (Russian)
- Prosdócimo (Spanish)
Sources
Sterpeta
- Origin: Italian
- Meaning: “brushwood; bramble; thicket.”
- Gender: Female
- stehr-PEY-tah
A rare vintage name from Southern Italy, Sterpeta is associated with the Virgin Mary, deriving from Madonna della Sterpeto – the name of a Marian shrine located near Barletta, in the province of Apulia (Puglia). The title Sterpeto itself comes from the Italian sterpeto, meaning “thicket,” “bramble,” or “brushwood,” referring to the rural area where the miraculous image was discovered.
According to local tradition, during a devastating plague in 16th-century Barletta, a perfectly preserved medieval icon of the Virgin Mary was found hidden in the cellar of an abandoned monastery. The townspeople carried the image in procession, and as soon as it was revealed, the plague ceased and the people were healed. In gratitude, the sanctuary of Madonna dello Sterpeto was built on the site, and devotion to the image spread throughout the region. Her feast-day is May 8th.
The personal name Sterpeta emerged as a devotional given name in honor of la Madonna dello Sterpeto, but its usage remained largely confined to Barletta, Foggia, and Bari in Puglia. The name gradually fell out of use in the 20th century and was last recorded in Italy in 2006.
With its strong regional flavor and deep Marian symbolism, Sterpeta is a distinctive relic of Southern Italian faith and folklore. It is a name that bridges miracle, memory, and devotion, and its meaning also links it to fall or autumnal themes.
Sources
Onelio, Onelia
- Origin: Italian
- Meaning: unknown
The male name Onelio is rare in Italy and appears mainly in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna; its feminine forms of Onelia is slightly more common. Its origin is uncertain.
Some scholars connect it to the Ligurian city of Oneglia, which also produced the surnames Onelli and Onelio. Others link it to the Latin Honorius (“honourable”), while less common theories suggest the Latin alnus (“alder tree”) or the Old Germanic awi (“health”).
Italian immigrants introduced the name to Brazil, where it has occasional use.
Related masculine forms include Onello and Oneglio. The feminine counterpart is Onelia, with other variants such as Oneglia and Onella.
Source
Mamilian
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: unknown
- Gender: Male
The name is derived from the Roman gens name, Mamilius. Its meaning is uncertain. It may relate to the Latin mamilla meaning, “breast; nip; tit” or to mar, meaning “the shining one, splendid one.” It has also been linked with the Celtic mam (strength) and hil (seed).
The most notable bearer is Saint Mamilian of Palermo (San Mamiliano), a 5th-century bishop and martyr venerated in Sicily. The designated name-day is September 15, which on the island of Giglio, there is a yearly festival held in the saint’s honor.
Other forms include:
- Mamiliá (Catalan)
- Mamilian (English, German, Polish)
- Mamilien (French)
- Mamiliano (Italian)
- Mamilianus (Latin)
- Mamilianu (Sicilian)
Feminine forms would include:
- Mamiliana (Italian)
- Mamilienne (French)
Sources
- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mamilius#English
- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mamilian
- https://www.behindthename.com/name/mamilian/submitted
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamilian_of_Palermo
- https://www.latinlexicon.org/definition.php?p1=2034411&p2=m
- https://www.latinlexicon.org/definition.php?p1=2034412&p2=m
- https://it.everybodywiki.com/Mamiliano_%28nome%29
Bonaventure
- Origin: Italian
- Meaning: “good luck.”
- Gender: Male
Bonaventure is the French and English form of the Medieval Italian male name, Bonaventura. It is ultimately made up of the Latin words, bonus “good” and venturas “the things that will come, the future.” A 13th-century Catholic Saint bore this name. He is considered a Doctor of the Church and known for authoring the biography of St. Francis of Assisi.
The name experienced widespread use throughout Catholic Europe until it fell out of use by the early 20th-century. It was the middle name of actor, Spencer Tracy (1900-1967).
The designated name-day is July 15th and September 11 in Croatia.
In recent years, it was the name of one of the ill-fated Lisbon sisters. This character appeared in Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel, The Virgin Suicides (1993). She is referred to as “Bonnie,” for short.
Other forms include
- Bonabendur (Basque)
- Bonaventura (Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Italian, Scandinavian, Slovene)
- Boaventura (Galician, Portuguese)
- Buonaventura (Italian)
- Bonaventūra, Bonaventūras (Lithuanian)
- Bonawentura (Polish)
- Buenaventura (Spanish)
Italian short forms are Ventura, Venturo, and Venturino, also used as independent names.
Sources
- https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonaventure
- https://www.behindthename.com/name/bonaventure
- https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonaventura
- J. Uckelman, S.L. Uckelman. “Bonaventure”. In S.L. Uckelman, ed. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, Edition 2023, no. 1. http://dmnes.org/2023/1/name/Bonaventure
Tully, Tullia
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: unknown
Tully is the English form of the Roman family name, Tullius, which is derived from the praenomen, Tullus, of an unknown meaning. It is likely Etruscan and its meaning has been lost. Other suggestions include that it is from the Latin, tullius (spout of water; gush of blood) or the Latin term, tollere, meaning “to lift,” allegedly referring to the act of a Roman father lifting their newborn son and claiming him.
A notable bearer is Marcus Tullius Cicero.
It was also borne by several male and female saints.
Alternately, Tully has been used on females occasionally, mainly as a diminutive form of Petula.
Male forms
- Tulli (Catalan)
- Tullie (French, this is a unisex name in France, though it is rare)
- Tullió (Hungarian)
- Tullo (Italian)
- Tulio (Italian, Spanish)
- Tullio (Italian)
- Tuliusz, Tulliusz (Polish)
- Túlio (Portuguese)
Female forms
- Túl·lia (Catalan)
- Tullie (French)
- Tulia (Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Spanish)
- Tullia (Italian, Latin)
- Tulla (Italian)
- Túlia (Portuguese)
Sources
Velia
- Origin: Italian
- Meaning: unknown
- Gender: feminine
- It (VAY-lee-ah); Eng (VEE-lee-ah)
- Usage: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
The name is of uncertain origin or meaning, it has been suggested to be from an Old Roman gens name, Velius, possibly meaning “concealed.” It may have also been taken from the name of an Ancient Roman city in Salerno, which possibly has the same meaning as above, and has also been suggested to be a contracted form of Evelia or Evelina. It is mainly used in Lazio and Tuscany. It was further popularized in Italy by the 1923 novel by Bruno Cicognani, La Velia.
It is also the name of a genus of aquatic insect in the family veliidae.
It appeared in the U.S. Top 1000 Popular Female Names between 1929 and 1930, peaking at #836 in 1929.
There are also the masculine forms of Velio, Velino (Italian), Velius (Latin) and the Bulgarian, Velian Велиян.
Other forms include:
- Vélie (French)
- Vélia (Hungarian)
- Veliana Велиана, Веляна (Italian, Bulgarian)
- Velina (Italian)
- Welia (Polish)
- Velia (Portuguese, Spanish)
Sources
Loredana
Photo by Jeffrey Czum on Pexels.com
- Origin: Italian
- Meaning: unknown
- Gender: feminine
- Pron: (LOH-ray-DAH-nah)
The name is of uncertain origin or meaning, but has been attested in Venice since the 16th-century. It was the name of Loredana Marcello (d. 1572), the wife of Doge Mocenigo of Venice. It is suspected to be derived from the surname, Loredan, which was the family name of a noble family in the Republic of Venice. According to legend, they derived their name from the Latin Laureati, Lauretani (laureled), owing to the idea that they descended from “fame and glory.”
The name went from being an obscure regional name to a popular name throughout Italy due to Luciano Zuccoli’s novel, L’amore di Loredana (1908). It was also used earlier by French author George Sand in her novel, Mattea (1833), but the name never became widespread in the French-speaking world.
At the turn of the 20th-century, when it first became popular in Italy, it may have been used by devout Catholic families, especially in the South of Italy, who mistakenly believed it referenced, Loreto, as in Our Lady of Loreto.
The designated name-day in Italy is December 10th.
The name is also used in Albania, Romania, Slovenia and the other former Yugoslav countries.
Slovenian forms include: Loridina, Lorica (loh-REET-sah) & Lorka.
An obscure Italian variation is Oredana and the masculine Oredano.
The French form is Lorédane and its masculine form of Lorédan.
Italian short forms include: Dana, Lora & Lori.
There is an Italian masculine form, though rare, which is Loredano and also the Croatian, Lordan.
It is borne by Swiss female rapper of Albanian descent, known simply as Loredana (b. 1995).
Sources
Faolán, Phelan, Fillin
Photo by Flickr on Pexels.com
- Origin: Gaelic
- Meaning: “little wolf.”
- Gender: masculine
- Gaelic (FWAY-lahn); Eng (FAY-len; FIL-lin)
The name is derived from the Gaelic, faol, meaning “wolf” and the diminutive suffix –án. It is borne by 3 Medieval Saints from Ireland, 2 who settled in Scotland and another that did missionary work in Frankish Brabant.
There is a Cathedral dedicated to St. Foillan of Brabant in Aachen, Germany.
It is the ancestor of several Irish and Scottish surnames, such as Fylan, Hyland, MacClellan, MacClelland, Mac Giolla Fhaoláin, McClellan, McClelland, Ó Faoláin, Phelan, Whalen & Whelan.
Fillan is also the name of a place in Norway, but the name is probably of a separate etymology.
Other forms include:
- Foillan (Dutch, French, German)
- Phillan (English)
- Feuillien (French)
- Folien (French)
- Foilan (French)
- Pholien (French)
- Foillano (Italian)
- Fillano (Italian)
- Foilanus/Foillanus (Late Latin)
- Fáelán (Old Irish)
- Felano (Spanish)
Sources
- https://learngaelic.net/dictionary/index.jsp?abairt=challenge&slang=both&wholeword=false
- https://www.behindthename.com/name/faola10n
- https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Faol%C3%A1n
- https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=581
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foillan
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fillan