I'm sorry, I didn't quite get your name.....??

Image: Sharron Goodyear / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here in Italy people tend to make petnames out of people's (children's) names. One of the reasons for this might be that children "inherit" their names from the grandparents... Which means that some of the names are rather "serious" names for a little child. So maybe that's why they put a little twist on everybody's names??

The funny thing is that since this petname stays with a person for the rest of their lives you may encounter old men who is called Bobbo (which for some reason makes me think of a gorilla. Don't know why.... Hope I haven't offended anyone...)

When I first came here I found it difficult to remember all these petnames and I didn't understand how these names where made up. But now, after three years I have a vague idea of how this works. At least I hope so....

To some names you just add an -ino/ina or -etto/-etta or -ella at the end. This is to name something that is "small", for instance a child. So if a little girl is named Regina she can be called both Reginetta or Reginella. If you're named Paola people will call you Paolina. Lorenzo becomes Lorenzino and Fabio can be called Fabino or Fabietto.

You can also make a petname out of the last syllable of the name by repeating it twice which means that Gabriele becomes Lele and Libero becomes Bobbo (even though I don't understand how Libero and Bobbo are related...)

It's also possible to use the last syllable and then add the suffix -ino. And this is how Luigi becomes Gino...

Other possibilities is to omit the first part of the name without repeating or adding anything to what's left. And in this way Vincenzo becomes Enzo and Lorenzo becomes Renzo....

In Sicily they will call you Totò if you're named Salvatore, but in Napoli you have to be named Antonio to earn the right to be called Totò... Because Italians from the different regions can't be expected to agree on such an important topic...

And to confuse you even more I can add that where I live they have the habit of just using the first syllable (or the first two) in the name when they talk to you. So Paolo is called Pa, Rosaria becomes Ro or Rosà, Fabio is called Fa and Marco Ma. However, a confusing thing is when my husband is talking on the phone and calling someone Ma, I might think that he's talking to Marco, when the person he's talking to really is his mum. Because Mamma is of course called just Ma....

And so, if some time in the future you meet an Italian named Ciccio you should probably be able to guess what his real name is.....  Or not.....