by Francesca Di Meglio

As many people who follow this column know, I'm newly married to an Italian man. Because we're newlyweds, everyone here in Italy is asking us when we're going to have Italian babies.

Last week, our niece Laura was actually daydreaming about us birthing a little cousin for her, and she started ticking off Italian baby names that would work in my native United States and my husband's native Italy. There's no baby on the way for us yet. But Laura's little exercise got me thinking that other Italians abroad might be looking for Italian baby names that are not too difficult for those in their new country to handle. After all, in America, Guido will be getting bullied daily at school and probably well into adulthood. But Alessandro might be all right.

If you're looking for an Italian baby name to honor your heritage, this is the Italian baby names dictionary for you. Just remember that “I” sounds like a long “E” in Italian when you're reading the names, and “GI” makes the “GEE” sound while “CI” makes the “CHEE” sound. And “GE” makes the “JEH” sound, and “CE” the “CHEH” sound. I'm sure we've forgotten some great Italian names that would work for people living abroad, so feel free to e-mail us your suggestions.

Here is the Italian baby name dictionary:

BABY GIRL'S NAMES	BABY BOY'S NAMES
Adriana Alberta Allegra Alessandra Alessia Alice Angela Angelina Anna Annabella Annamaria Antonia Ariana	Adriano Alberto Aldo Alessandro Alessio Alfonso Alfredo Angelo Antonio Arturo
Barbara Belinda Berta Bianca	Benito Beppe Bernardo Bruno
Carla Carmela Carolina Caterina Claudia Cristina	Carlo Carmelo Ciro Claudio Corrado Cristiano
Daniela Diana Dina Donatella	Daniele Dante Dario Davide Demetrio Dino Domenico Donatello
Elena Elenora Emilia Enza Eva	Emilio Enrico Enzo Ermando Ernesto
Fiorella Flavia Franca Francesca	Fabio Fabrizio Filippo Fiorello Flavio Francesco Franco
Gabriela Gemma Giada Gianna Gina Giorgia Giovanna Giulia Giuseppina (Giusi)	Gabriele Giacomo (Giac) Gian Giancarlo Gianfranco Gianni Gino Giorgio Giovanni Giulio Giuseppe Gregorio
Isabella
Laura Lea Lella Lia Liliana Lina Lisa Loretta Lucia Luciana Luisa	Lello Leonardo Lorenzo Luca Luciano Luigi
Maddelena Mara Marcella Maria Mariana Marisa Marta Martina Melena Mimi Monica	Marcello Marco Mario Martino Massimo Matteo Michelangelo
Nicoletta Nina Nunzia	Nando Nello Nico Nino Nunzio
Ornella
Patrizia Patti Pia Pina	Patrizio Piero Pino
Regina Renata Rita Roberta Rosa Rosalba Rosalia Rosana Rosaria Rosetta	Raffaele Raimondo Renato Riccardo Roberto Rocco Rosario
Sabrina Sandra Sara Serafina Sienna Silvana Silvia Sofia Stefania Susanna	Sandro Sergio Silvio Stefano
Teresa Tina Tommasina	Tomasso Toni Tonino
	Ugo Umberto
Valentina Viola Violetta Vittoria Viviana	Vito Vittore Vittorio

Di Meglio is the guide to Newlyweds for About.com.