ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1128 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1128 ************************************ 4 Aug 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked help documenting , which your client wants to use as a period Italian feminine name. Here is what we have found. Before I start, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers. We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that it not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to help your client register a particular name or arms, then we may not be able to help you. We also prefer to work directly with the client, rather than through an intermediary. If your client doesn't have access to e-mail, then we are certainly glad that you are helping her reach us; but if it is possible in the future for you to ask people to write us directly, we believe that would allow us to assist them more effectively. is not a correct Italian name. The diminutive ending <-ette> is French; the equivalent Italian suffix is <-etta>, as in and , both of which were recorded in Florence in 1427. We do not find an example of in our sources, and the modern popularity of the name in Italy derives from the 19th century vogue for Shakespeare and work based on his play [4]. On the other hand, we find examples of and the masculine , also in Florence in 1427 [1]. may well have been used, too. is a possessive or plural form based on the common Italian masculine name . This form of the name was often used in medieval and renaissance Italy as a family name, often with the preposition "of the". would have meant "Giulietta, member of the Giacomi family". If your client wants her to name to mean "Giulietta, daughter of Giacomo", then she should call herself . The form you asked about, , is one that we see only very rarely in period Italian records [2], so we suggest that you advise your client to use one of the forms we've recommended here. The name is of course a common Italian form of . It is recorded in Ferrara in 1473-4, and the diminutive form was used in renaissance Florence [2, 3]. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Evan da Collaureo and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 4 Aug 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] 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 [2] Talan Gwynek, "15th Century Italian Men's Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, accessed 18 June 1998). http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/italian15m.html [3] Herlihy, David and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, "Census and Property Survey of Florentine Domains in the Province of Tuscany, 1427-1480", Machine readable data file. Online Catasto of 1427 Version 1.1. Online Florentine Renaissance Resources: Brown University, Providence, R.I., 1996 http://swansong.stg.brown.edu/projects/catasto/overview.html Specifically, see "Family Names Appearing in the Catasto of 1427" at http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/catasto/family_names.html [4] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei Nomi Italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992), s.n. Giulio. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -