ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2157 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2157 ************************************ 23 Oct 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether , , or is an appropriate given name for an Italian woman living between 1000 and 1600, and whether is an appropriate surname. This letter is a brief answer to your question. appears to be an error for , with one 'l' and a double 's'. We've found recorded in 15th century Florence and the masculine form in 14th century Venice. We've also found in Renaissance Florence and the masculine in Venice [1, 2, 3]. Either or would be an excellent choice for any part of late-period northern or central Italy. We believe is unlikely: The letter 'J' is very rare in Italian documents; its sound is usually represented by . We don't have very good sources for early-period Italian names, but we can give you some general guidelines. Variants of came into use in western Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries as a result of the popularity of the romances based on the life of Alexander the Great. Feminine forms were later developments, so we don't recommend before the late 13th century. , which derives from a classical Roman name, is more likely to have been in use in the early Middle Ages. The were a prominent family in Venice from the 11th century onward. We have an example of the name there in the 14th century, and was Doge of Venice in the 15th century [3, 4]. or would be a fine Venetian name for the late 15th or 16th century. If you want a name suited to an early period in Venice, then we recommend you choose a given name for your father and call yourself something like , which would have been understood to mean "Giuliana, daughter of Bernardin Foscari". You can find a list of 14th century Venetian men's names on the web at: http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/venice14/ Since is a Venetian family name, we've focused our recommendations on that city. If you want to set your persona elsewhere, then the names we've recommended may not be appropriate. Medieval and renaissance Italy was not linguistically homogeneous: Each city had its own dialect and different regions spoke quite different languages. Naming practices similarly varied from one region to another. If you want a name suited to another region of Italy, write us again and we'll do our best to help you. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 23 Oct 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Rhian Lyth, "Italian Renaissance Women's Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/italian.html [2] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/catasto [3] Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek, "Fourteenth Century Venetian Personal Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/venice14/ [4] "Foscari, Francesco" Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. [Accessed 13 October 2000]. http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=35630&sctn=1