Italian names that start with the letter 'V'

Valentino, Valerio, and Valeriano are Italian names that start with the letter ‘V’ because they they originate from the Latin word “valens” (which means “strong”).

Vittorio, Vincenzo, and Vittoriano are Italian names that begin with ‘V’ because they come from the Latin word “vincere” (which means “to win”) or from the Latin word “victor” (which means “winner”).

Below we'll see many more Italian names that start with this letter.

Italian girl names that start with 'V'

• Vittoria
• Vincenza
• Valentina
• Viviana
• Valeria
• Vanna
• Virna
• Vania
• Vanessa
• Vittorina
• Violetta
• Virgilia
• Verusca
• Velleda

Italian boy names that start with 'V'

• Vittorio
• Valerio
• Vincenzo
• Virginio
• Vittore
• Vinicio
• Valentino
• Virgilio
• Vitale
• Vitaliano
• Vittorino
• Venanzio
• Vigilio
• Viviano
• Vito
• Valter
• Vanni
• Valeriano
• Vasco
• Vittoriano
• Vico
• Vitangelo
• Vladimiro
• Vitantonio
• Vincenzino
• Venanzo
• Valdo
• Veniero
• Villiam
• Vinzenz

Three common Latin roots of Italian names that begin with ‘V’

A large proportion of Italian names that begin with ‘V’ can be traced back to one of three Latin roots:

The first group is related to the Latin word “vīta” (which means “life”) or “vīvus” (which means “alive”). This group includes names such as Vitale, Vitaliano, Vito, and Viviano.

The second group is related to the Latin word “valens” (which means “strong” and “healthy”) and includes Italian names like Valerio, Valentino, and Valeriano.

The third group is connected to the Latin word “victor” (which means “winner” or “conqueror” ) or to the Latin verb “vincere” (which means “to win” or “to conquer”), the third verb in the phrase “Veni, Vidi, Vici.” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) attributed to Julius Caesar. Names in this group include Vittorio, Vincenzo, Vittore, Vittoriano, Vittorino, and Vincenzino.

Vanni and Vico

Some Italian names that start with ‘V’ arose as shortened, endearing forms of longer names that begin with other letters. Vanni and Vico, for instance, originate from the names Giovanni and Ludivico, respectively.

The initial ‘W’ of Germanic names often turns into a ‘V’ in their Italian versions

Some Italian names that begin with ‘V’ are adaptations of Germanic names that start with ‘W’. This is because the Italian language doesn’t really use the letter ‘W’ (except in some loanwords like “weekend”).

Examples of such names include Vilfredo (Wilfred), Volfango (Wolfgang), Valdemaro (Waldemar), and Viliberto (Wilbert).

Not all Germanic names beginning with ‘W’ get converted to Italian names starting with ‘W’. For example, the name William becomes Guglielmo in Italian. And Walter becomes Gualtiero.

Famous people with Italian names that begin with ‘V’

A famous namesake can provide additional allure to a name. The table below provides some examples of famous people (some real and some fictional characters) who have Italian first names that begin with ‘V’.

Name	Occupation
Vilfredo Pareto	Italian scholar known for the Pareto distribution. The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule) is named after him as well.
Vito Corleone	Fictional character in The Godfather movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Vincenzo Bellini	Italian opera composer
Violetta	Main character in Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata
Valeria Golino	Italian actress who has appeared in movies such as Rain Man and Hot Shots!