ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1630
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1630
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16 Apr 1999
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for help choosing a names for a 16th century woman from Naples.
Unfortunately, we can't help much.

We have no good sources for names from late-period southern Italy.  We
found one book that might help, but we haven't been able to evaluate it
yet.  We're getting a copy; if you'd like to write us again in a few weeks,
we may be able to tell you more about it.

  Grande, Gennaro, _Origine de' cognomi gentilizi nel Regno di Napoli_
  (Bologna: A. Forni, 1980).

Otherwise, the best we can suggest is that you read histories of the region
and see what you find.  We can recommend some good books:

  Ryder, A.F.C., _The Kingdom of Naples under Alfonso the Magnanimous: the
  Making of a Modern State_ (Oxford, 1976).

  Bentley, J. H. _Politics and Culture in Renaissance Naples_ (Princeton,
  1987).

  Croce, B., _History of the Kingdom of Naples_, translation by F.
  Freneaye, edited by H. S. Hughes (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1970).

Naples in your period was first an Aragonese and later a Spanish
possession, and we found both Spanish and Italian names among the upper
classes. 

We have a great deal more information about central and northern Italian
names.  We don't know if the same names were used in the south, but the
material may be helpful to you anyway.  You can find several lists of
late-period Italian names on the web:

  http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/romance.html


We're sorry we could not be more helpful.  If you come across a good list
of names from your period, please let us know.  We're always looking for
new sources.  Please write us again if you have other questions.  I was
assisted in researching and writing this letter by Walraven van Nijmegen, 
Juliana de Luna, and Zenobia Naphtali.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  17 Apr 1999