Okay, many could have already heard that
Lovino isn't an Italian name, at best it's an Italian surname.
In the belief it could have been an Italian name in the past and that was why it was used for Romano, I've researched about it on all the webs and books about names I could find.
All I was able to find out was that
'Lovinum' (derived by a Medieval variation of a Latin word meaning
'small wolf') had been used as a city name and
'Lovinus' (meaning
'Man from Lovinum') had been used as nickname for a painter. Since it wouldn't be the first time people get their name from the name of a city, I thought it was possible in the past people used it as a name also and I stopped here.
In
this discussion however, people poined out that they had met Lovinos out of Italy and that, on English webs, is also reported the existence of the name
'Lovina' (while it's harder to track the name
'Lovino' down, unless they mention it as male form of Lovina), with the meaning of
'mother of Romans'.
Out of curiosity I checked this source.
Lovino/Lovina are English variants of
Lavinio/Lavinia, which are Italian names of Etruscan origins.
The Etruscan meaning got lost, the latin meaning is
'person who comes from Lavinium'.
Lavinium (which has disappeared by now and was in the area of
Pomezia) was the city founded by
Aeneas and named after the woman he married. Since, according to the myth,
Lavinia and Aeneas are the ones who gave birth to the ancestors of
the first king of Rome, Romolus and his brother Remus but also of
Julius Caesar and
Augustus, you can stretch its meaning to
'mother of the Romans'.
Now... Lavinia and Lavinio (celebrated November the 1st because there's not a saint with either of the names) are Italians names but, even if still used, not very popular.
In Italian webs and books there's no mention they have/had as variants
Lovino/Lovina (which, as far as I know, aren't used in Italy at all), at best we gets as possible Italian variants
Lavino/Lavina (which are mentioned in Italian books/webs about names but seem to be used even less than Lavinio/Lavinia). It's possible that those variants fell out of use or,
more likely, Lovino/Lovina are variants used by foreigners only.
Still, that's the best explanation about why Himaruya picked up the name Lovino so far.
It's derivated by a name with clear Italian origins, with an assumed meaning that is very interesting and fitting. It also might have ended up on a list of names he might have checked and he might have exchanged it for a name used in Italy.
So, as of now, Lovino is still not an Italian name, just the foreign version of an Italian one but, well, at least it isn't a name he made up or a name with no connection whatsoever to Italy.
Anyone else has suggestions?
PS: I found more info about Lovina since it seems more popular than Lovino. The girl name Lovina is used mostly in English and, in English, should be pronounced as Lahviynah (L as in "lee (L.IY)"; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"; V as in "vee (V.IY)"; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"; N as in "knee (N.IY)"; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"). It is of Latin origin. Lovina is a form of the English, German, and Italian name Lavinia.
Lovina is rare as a baby girl name. At the peak of its usage in 1903, 0.006% of baby girls were named Lovina. It had a ranking of #886 then. The baby name has dropped in popularity since then, and is currently used on a very modest scale. Out of all girl names in its family, Lovina was nevertheless the most widely used in 2009.
The following are English derivates for the name Lovina: Lavena, Lavenah, Lavania, Lavaniah, Lavenia, Laveniah, Laviniah, Lavinie, Lavyna, Lavynah, Lavyne, Lavyni, Lavynia, Lavyniah, Lavyny, Lavynya, Lavynyah, Levenia, Leveniah, Levina, Levinia, Leviniah, Livinia, Liviniah, Louvenia, Louvinia, Louviniah, Lovinah, Lovinia, Loviniah, Lovynia, Lovyniah, Luvena, Luvenia, Luvina, Luvinia and Vinnie.
Warning: None of the overmentioned derivated is considered an Italian name.
( What about Lovino's name other possible translitterations? Can they be the right ones? )( What about Lovino's surname Vargas? From where it came from? )![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
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