On the heels of Giacomo, we bring you another quintessentially Italian Name of the Day: Dante.

Dante is the subject of great debate here on ApMtn.  Is it a classic Italian heritage choice, or the kind of name that screams headed for the NBA?  Is it a culture-spanning moniker that manages to feel both literary and vibrant at once, or the kind of name that would hamstring a studious child because he’d be so contrary to the name’s high-scoring image?

Dante is familiar to most of us as the author of the Divine Comedy.  If the English language owes much to William Shakespeare, then Italian is even more indebted to Dante Alighieri.  The poet started his life in 13th century Florence as Durante, a name that means enduring.  The contracted short form, however, is the one that lasted.

There’s even a female Dante in literature – the devout governess in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.  In this case, it’s a spin on the character’s heavily accented pronunciation of “Auntie,” not a given name, and of course, an allusion to the hero’s journey.

But suggest Dante as a baby name today, and you might find yourself up against the color line.  Dante – as well as variants D’ante, Daunte, Dontae, Deontae and so on – is a popular name for African American boys.  Factor in the popularity of compound names like DeShawn and Dandrae, and it’s easy to argue that Dante skews black.  

The sports obsessed will cite African American athletes like Daunte Culpepper (of the Oakland Raiders), Dante Wesley (of the Carolina Panthers), Dante Hall (of the St. Louis Rams), Donté Stallworth (of the Cleveland Browns) and Dontae’ Jones (formerly of the Boston Celtics).  A search on ESPN.com turned up too many Dantes and company to list.

Does it matter?

The flames of controversy burn bright.  Appropriate, since the most famous Dante took us through the Seven Circles of Hell.  

But rather than delve into the complex topic of African American naming conventions, let’s say this: there is much freedom in choosing a child’s name today.  Might a towheaded boy born in Minnesota to parents of Scandinavian descent feel awkward as a Dante?  Maybe.  But for parents of Italian heritage, there’s not a reason in the world to shy away from this great hero name.

In fact, Dante’s potentially ambiguous racial signals can be one of its strengths.  A few years ago, a friend was stumped trying to name her half-Greek, half-Jamaican son.  While Dante wasn’t her final choice, it made the short list of names that seemed neither “too white” nor “too black.”  In an age when so many of our children have patchwork backgrounds that span the globe, this quality is an asset.

Dante ranked #270 in 2007.  Variant Donte (#725) is also ranked.  Daunte and Dontae have charted in recent years but are not currently among the Top 1000.

Whether your child grows up to be a painter or a point guard, we think Dante is a gem: that rare historic name that sounds fresh and modern.