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I think both Gioia and Joy are lovely, both in a slightly different way. Gioia reminds me a bit of Gaia in how it looks and I think that's because I think they have quite a similar feel to me. I think I like Joy more, especially as a middle name, but absolutely not necessarily.
As for other names with similar meanings I like, it is Felicia, Felicity, our Polish Felicja and everything related I guess, Serena, Serene and Serenity and Polish, but actually not used, I guess, or extremely rarely used name - Gaudencja, which is from Latin gaudium - joy, happiness. Apparently it also has other form - Gaudia - which is also very nice. And I like Letitia too.

I really like the sound of Gioia, but all those vowels together look odd written down. Joy is great in the middle but I don't much like it up front. I'd worry about a Joy feeling pressure to be happy and cheerful all the time.

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As for names with similar meanings, I love Serena. It's such a lovely and underused name.

Joy is...okay. It's way better in the middle, imo. But I do like Felicity.

I knew a Gioia in college - American, but of Italian descent. I always thought her name was really cool, but from what I gather she had a heck of a time getting non-Italian Americans to spell her name correctly growing up.

I think it's nice. I prefer Joy, but not for any reason other than familiarity.
Both are much better than Felicity, which I dislike a lot.

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I don't think the word "augural" works as you intend in English. "Auspicious" or "cheerful" are probably closer to what you mean. :-)

This message was edited 11/22/2017, 10:26 AM

I love Gioia and like Joy. My favorite "joy"-related name is Jocosa, which no one else seems to appreciate.

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ETA: Jocosa is not etymologically related to Joy, but I associate them semantically in my mind.

This message was edited 11/22/2017, 9:56 AM

Its pretty. I like Serenity, Hope, and Joy, and thats really it for virtue names. I think Gioia is a lot better then Joy.