Vittoria

Today's name: Vittoria

Pronunciation: vih-TOR-ee-ah, vee-TOR-ee-ah

Potential nicknames: Vita, Toria, Tori, Ria, Rita

Variant of: Victoria (Latin)

Origin: Italian variant of Victoria, meaning "conqueror," "victorious," and "victory."

Popularity: There were 56 baby girls named Vittoria in 2010 in the U.S., along with 18 spelled Vitoria. In 2011 there were 37 girls named Vittoria and no Vitoria.

Fun facts: (1) Nike was the goddess of victory. (2) Queen Victoria gave her name to the 19th century, the Victorian Age, and was the reason behind many babies named Victoria, but not so much until the 20th century. (3) The Puritans simply used Victory as a name. (4) Vittoria Colonna was an Italian poetess and noblewoman. (5) Santa Vittoria (Saint Vittoria) is a wine from Italy, named for the actual Saint Victoria. (6) According to legend, Victoria and her sister Anatolia were arranged to be married to prominent non-Christian men, but they refused, and so their grooms outed them as Christians. The authority gave these suitors permission to imprison the sisters and do what they could to make them renounce their faith. In the end, neither suitor was successful, and the sisters were given to the authorities. It is unclear who killed the sisters, but one would-be murderer was converted to Christianity when the snake that was supposed to kill/bite Anatolia refused to bite her and bit him instead. This man's name was Audax, and he had a change of heart when Anatolia saved him. They are now Saints Anatolia and Victoria.


Male version: Vittorio (and Victor)

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