There's steady biblical Luke, stately Roman Lucas
and their artistic little brother Luca.
Origin: |
Luca is the Italian equivalent to Luke, both being forms of the Latin name Lucas and its cognate Greek Loukas. Lucas and Loukas themselves are both contractions of Lucanus/Loukanos meaning "of Lucania," a region in Southern Italy. Undoubtedly, Lucania took its name from the ProtoIndo European *lewko "bright, shining" (Greek leukos, Latin lucere). Luca is also the Hungarian form of Lucia. |
Usage: |
The propensity of all forms of Luke/Lucas across Europe is largely thanks to the fame of one man: St Luke, one of the Four Evangelists and author of the third Gospel and the Act of the Apostles. He was venerated as a saint from an early date in Christianity and, by the 12th century, forms of his name were widespread across the Christian world. Luca took hold in Italy (as the Italian form of Lucas) in the Middle Ages. Curiously, it was used at this time for both men and women. For women it was perhaps a contraction of Lucia, or fitting it to the general pattern of feminine names ending in -a, and masculine names in -o. Either way, it was far more common for men, as the frequency lists of names given to men and women in the Florence Catasto of 1427 show with its 229 males and 3 women bearing the name. Most frequency lists pertaining to Italian names during the Middle Ages place Luca within the Top 30 most popular names for men (usually around 21st-25th place). Among the most famous bearers were sculptor Luca della Robbia (1399–1482), painter and sculptor Luca Cambiaso "Luchetto da Genova" (1527–1585) and composer Luca Marenzio (1553–1599). Luca has been in used in Britain since at least the 18th century, but use of the name was largely confined to Italian or Hungarian migrant families. It wasn't until the late 20th century, that Luca has seen more widespread use in the UK. The popularity of Luca and Luka since 1996 in England and Wales has been steadily rising for boys, but remained fairly constant for girls:
Usage of the name Luca in Scotland has remained remarkably consistent in the last few years: 2005: #156 (31 births), 2006: #92 (64), 2007: #95 (69), 2008: #97 (69), 2009: #121 (49), 2010: #95 (64), 2011: #96 (65), 2012: #95 (72). In Italy, Luca ranked #14 for boys in 2012 (plus #21 in Austria, #24 in Belgium, #24 in The Netherlands, #59 in New South Wales and #85 in British Columbia), while Luka ranks #1 in both Croatia and Slovenia. In Hungary, Luca ranks #10 for girls. |
Famous Bearers: |
History: * Luca della Robbia (1399–1482), a Italian Renaissance sculptor. Contemporary: * Luca Cadalora (b. 1963), Italian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world champion. Literature and Media: * Luca Brasi, a character from the film and novel The Godfather. Other: * Lucca, a city in Tuscany. |
Variants: |
Luka (Russian, Slavic), Lucas (Latin), Loukas (Greek), Lucca (Portuguese) |
Pronunciation: |
LOO-kə [key] |
Possible diminutives: |
Luc, Lou, Lucky |
Sibling Names: |
Mia Zara Rosa Sofia Esme Ines |
Name Lists: |
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Thanks to Monia for requesting this post.