ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1177
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1177
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From: "S Friedemann" 
19 Aug 1998

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Sofia>, <Isabella>, <Angiola>, or a derivative of
<Angela> were used between 1300 and 1600 as feminine names in Italy.  You
also wanted to know if the surnames <Stella> and <Maitilasso> were used in
this same period.  Here is the information we have found.

Our sources on Italian names and naming practices are limited.  We also have
nothing that is specific to the Foggia Troia region of Italy, though we do
have a collection of names from 13th century Perugia, that you might be
interested in:

     http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/perugia/

We did not find <Sofia> as a period name in any of our Italian sources,
though we did find the names <Sapya> and <Savia> in the 13th century.  These
may be variants of <Sofia>. [1]  <Sofia> is found in modern Italy, but we do
not know when it first was used.  [3] Since it was fairly popular in
countries surrounding Italy, we would be surprised if it wasn't also used in
Italy, at least late in our period.

<Isabella> would be an excellent name for your period; we found this
spelling in 1427.  Other variants that we found are <Ysabella> 13th century,
<Isabetta> 1427, and <Isotta> 1427 [1,2,4].

Forms of <Angela> that we found are <Angela> 13th century and 1427, and
<Anguilutia> 13th century. [1,2].  Either of these names would be
appropriate for your period.  However, we did not find <Angiola>.  In your
period, the Italians often used diminutive, or nickname, forms of names.
Such forms as <Angelina>, <Angeletta>, and <Angelosa> would all be
appropriate as Italian names. [5]

The surname <Stella> was used throughout Italy with medium frequency.  [3]
It would make a fine surname for your period.

Unfortunately, we could not find <Maitilasso>, nor anything similar to it,
in any of our sources.  If you let us know where you found it, we'd be happy
to see if we can find more information on it.

In summary, <Angela Stella> or <Isabella Stella> would be fine mid-period
Italian names.

We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not
hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further
questions.  Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan
Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, Arval Benicoeur, Modar Neznanich, and Alan
Fairfax.

For the Academy,
--Aryanhwy merch Catmael Caermyrdin
     August 19, 1998

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References:

[1] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from Thirteenth Century Perugia"
(WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997).
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/perugia/

[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] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori
Editore, 1978).

[4] Rhian Lyth, "Italian Renaissance Women's Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman,
1996) .

[5] While we did not find these specific forms, they follow patterns of
diminutive forms found in references [1] and [2].