Gia Zavala: Behind Matt and Lucy Damon's Name Choice

With many readers expressing their opinions on Matt and Luciana Damon‘s choice of Gia Zavala for their new baby girl, we spoke to Linda Rosenkrantz, co-author of The Baby Name Bible: The Ultimate Guide By America’s Baby-Naming Experts, about the history behind their choice, and how to construct sibling name sets that work!

Gia makes a nice, harmonious pairing with older sisters Isabella andAlexia’s names. But though they all have a Latin feel — no surpriseconsidering mom Luciana Damon’s Argentinean roots — they have quitedifferent characters. Isabella, the Spanish and Italian version ofElizabeth, is both classic and mega-trendy –  it’s the second most popularname on the US charts and has a good chance of reaching number one;Alexia, a more modern offshoot of Alexandra/Alexandria, has also beensteadily rising along with other members of the Alex family.

Gia is a short form of such Italian names as Gianna, Giovanna, and Giada,first known in this country via 60s movie star Gia Scala, born Giovanna.But the name hit the headlines in 1986, when the tragic 70s supermodel GiaCarangi became one of the first celebrities to die of AIDS. She was later playedby Angelina Jolie in a breakthrough performance in a 1998 TV movie that wonher both an Emmy and a Golden Globe. The name Gia has been increasing inpopularity in the past few years, along with cousin Mia, and reflecting thetrend for exotic international imports from Italy, Spain, Ireland and Russia.

Zavala is a fairly common Hispanic surname — I haven’t heard of it being usedas a first name before — so it very possibly has some family connection forLuciana. Mexican-born hero Lorenzo de Zavala was influential in Texanindependence and namesake of a county in Texas. 

Bottom line: It’s unusual,pretty, feminine and forms a perfect combination with Gia.

Photo by Richard Young/StarTraks.

How did you come up with well-paired sibling names for your kids?

Comments

So is Luciana Italian or hispanic? / both?

- Gena on August 25th, 2008

With our kids names, there were a few criteria we wanted met: 1) they had to reflect a bit of our ethnicity; 2) they also had to relate to our religious affiliations; 3) they needed to be no more than two syllables long, since they were going to have a long surname; 4) they had to have positive meanings; & 5) they had to have a certain melodious quality to them.

To wit, our first born is Asher Zain, our second is Zara Noor, and our third is Kaif Lukas.

- asherzarakaif on August 25th, 2008

not to be too nosy asherzarakaif but what is ur ethnicity??.. zain and noor are arabic names..thanx

- blackrose on August 25th, 2008

We ended up naming both our sons with C names, really only because we didn’t care for any other names. My husband also has a C name, so to some it may seem a little silly! We are torn about if we have a third, whether he/she will also be given a name beginning with a C.
Our oldest is Caleb Roan, and youngest is Cohen John…who knows, maybe there will be a little Carley or Chloe someday!

- alisha on August 25th, 2008

Gena, Lucy is from Argentina (as stated in the article).

- Jane on August 25th, 2008

My cousin named her daughter Gia 20 years ago. Gia was a famous model which was Angelina Jolie’s breakout role. It ia a lovely simple name with Italian roots.

- Jennifer C. Donnelly on August 25th, 2008

Just a note to say that although Isabella is used in Italy (eg Isabella Rossellini), the true Italian form of Elisabeth is Elisabetta, Isabella is Spanish.

- Leishk on August 25th, 2008

I just wanted to say Leishk that “Isabella” is not Spanish. I´m Spanish and the spanish form is “Isabel”.

- clementine on August 27th, 2008

I’m very partial to the name Gia, as my granddaughter’s name is Giovanna and we call her Gia as a nickname. And the family roots are very Italian…there was a Giovanna or Joanna (American version) going back for seven generations that we could trace and maybe even more. She’s always getting compliments on her lovely name, especially when paired with her Italian surname. (And I LOVE the name Gia Zavala, too…very melodic, uber feminine and it flows easily.)

- SouthernBelle on August 27th, 2008

LeishK is right: think of George Clooney’s girlfriend! And I bet Gia Zavala is cute as pie!

- Kewky on December 7th, 2010