Luca

See also: luca, LUCA, and Lucca

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Italian Luca, from Latin Lūcās, from Ancient Greek Λουκᾶς (Loukâs), hypocoristic of Λούκιος (Loúkios) (from Latin Lūcius m) or Λουκανός (Loukanós) or both with -ᾶς (-âs). As a female given name, used in Hungarian and Serbo-Croatian as an equivalent of Lucy (ultimately of same origin, from Latin Lūcia f), but English usage is influenced by the male given name, similar Lucas, Luke, and the feminine ending -a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈluːkə/

Proper noun

Luca

1. A male given name from Italian, borrowed in the 2000s.
2. A female given name.
   • 2000, Trezza Azzopardi, “Waiting”, in The Hiding Place, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Atlantic Monthly Press, published 2001, →ISBN, page 4:

     This is my bedroom, and Luca’s, and Fran’s, and my mother’s. The four of us sleep here, and at the back of the house live Celesta and Rose, my other two sisters who I don’t really know. […] We are Celesta, Rosaria, Francesca, Luca, Dolores.

   • 2014 June 16, Luciana Craita, “Black Alpha”, in Luca the Werewolf Daughter, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 74:

     Miss Lori, my girlfriend is on the phone. Her name is Luca.

   • 2014 November 19, D.L. London, “Book of Luke”, in Under the Blood, Bloomigton, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 646:

     “No, it wasn’t a dream, Luke….You have a daughter. […] I just assumed she was Ryan’s. I got married days after you came to Chicago….days after you and me… I’m sorry….” / “What’s her name, Drea?” […] “Luca….your daughter’s name is Luca.” / “No, no… her name is Luca Landon.” […] Luca Landon would always connect Mattdrea Cyrus to Luke Landon.

   • 2019 November, Jeremy Crawford, James Wyatt, Keith Baker, “Northedge”, in Eberron: Rising from the Last War (Dungeons & Dragons), Renton, Wash.: Wizards of the Coast, →ISBN, chapter 3 (Sharn, City of Towers), page 171, column 1:

     Who is the playwright of the Diamond Theater responsible for these stirring stories? Her name is Luca Syara, but beyond that, she’s an enigma.

   • 2024, Angela Addams, “Levi”, in Fury (Hell Hath No Fury; 2), [Lincoln, Lincolnshire]: Totally Bound Publishing, →ISBN:

     I don’t know if you ever met my stepmother, Luca. […] When Luca’s husband died protecting my dad, he’d felt obligated to show his loyalty and gratitude by marrying her, adopting her sons, treating them as his own.

Further reading

• Luca (masculine given name) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Luca (feminine given name) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Noun

Luca (plural Lucas)

1. Alternative letter-case form of LUCA
   • 2020 November 11, Michael Marshall, “Charles Darwin’s hunch about early life was probably right”, in BBC‎^[1], retrieved 2020-11-11:

     What’s more, every living organism is ultimately descended from a single ancestral population: the Last Universal Common Ancestor (Luca), which lived over 3.5 billion years ago when the planet was newly formed.

Anagrams

• ACLU, UCLA, caul

Aromanian

Proper noun

Luca m

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Luke or Lucas

German

Alternative forms

• Luka

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian Luca.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Luca

1. a male given name from Italian, of early 2000's origin

Italian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Lūcās.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlu.ka/
• Rhymes: -uka
• Hyphenation: Lù‧ca

Proper noun

Luca m

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Luke or Lucas
2. Luke (biblical character)
3. the Gospel of Luke

Descendants

• → English: Luca
• → German: Luca

See also

• Lucca

Latin

Etymology 1

Possibly from Celtic-Ancient Ligurian *luk- (“swampy place”). Or, possibly instead from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈluː.ka/, [ˈɫ̪uːkä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlu.ka/, [ˈluːkä]

Proper noun

Lūca f sg (genitive Lūcae); first declension

1. A city in Etruria; site of modern-day Lucca

Declension

First-declension noun, with locative, singular only.

	singular
nominative	Lūca
genitive	Lūcae
dative	Lūcae
accusative	Lūcam
ablative	Lūcā
vocative	Lūca
locative	Lūcae

Derived terms

• Lūca bōs
• Lūcānia
• Lūcānus
• Lūcensis

Etymology 2

From Lūcās.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈluː.kaː/, [ˈɫ̪uːkäː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlu.ka/, [ˈluːkä]

Proper noun

Lūcā m

1. ablative/vocative of Lūcās

References

• “Luca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Luca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Luca m (genitive/dative lui Luca)

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Luke or Lucas

Vietnamese

Proper noun

Luca

1. Alternative spelling of Lu-ca (“Luke”)