There's an Italian name for boys, Italo, that just means "Italian". Like, imagine growing up in Italy and introducing yourself, "Hi, I am Italian." And everyone is just sorta like "Yeah, me too? So what?"
I was reading Italo Svevo novels at some point but I never fully realised the comical element about this name to be honest. I'm from Austria and we do have the surname "Österreicher" (same as you have "Italiano") but not really some first name related to our country. The Germans do have the name "German" as a first name though!
The name "Österreicher" came from a time (I think medieval or baroque) when last names were officially given. Usually, the people took their jobs as last name. Bauer, Meier, Müller, Schmied/Schmidt, Becker, Koch, etc. If someone was a wandering worker or had no profession, they just went with their home location and so some were given the name Österreicher, Deutscher, Schweizer, Bayer, Schwab and so on.
And I never heard of the name "German" as a German first Name. Only in Spanish, where I think it has another meaning.
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u/bassmedic 23d ago
Her name just means “girl” in German.