ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1715 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1715 ************************************ 15 Jun 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked our help choosing a name appropriate for a 15th century woman, with <Ambra> as your given name. You said you want a name that could easily be translated from English to Italian or vice versa, and you asked specicially about <Ambra de Gentile>. Here is what we have found. As we've discussed, we have found one example of <Ambra> as a woman's name in 15th century Florence [2]. We've since found evidence that the name, which was indeed derived from the name of the gemstone, was used more widely in late medieval Tuscany and Emila-Romagna; so we can recommend it as a good choice for an Italian woman of your period [3]. Since we have not found evidence that any form of this name was used in English, we do not recommend it as the Italian name of an English expatriate. If you want to have forms of your name in both language, we suggest you start with an Italian name suitable for a woman born in 15th century Florence, and then figure out how it might have been translated into English. You described some examples you had discovered in your own research of merchants who changed their names to suit the language of the country where they were living. We checked your references, and we believe we found the examples you saw. They appear to demonstrate three slightly different practices: 1. The local population would sometimes identify a foreigner by a local translation of his name. For example, the mid-15th century Italian banker <Giovanni Sacchi> was known to his clients in England as <Jean Sac>. 2. A family of foreign origin that lived abroad for several generations sometimes came to use names in the local language. For example, the early 15th century Parisian <Jean Spifame> was the grandson of a merchant from Lucca. 3. A foreigner would sometimes identify himself by a local translation of his name. The Italian <Dino Rapondi> signed himself as <Dyne Raponde> in 1374 [1]. It's hard to generalize from just a few examples, but it does appear that it is plausible for an Italian woman living in England to use an English adaptation of her name. Exactly how she might have adapted her name is a much harder question. In the examples we've seen, given names were almost always translated to the equivalent names in other languages. For example, <Giovanni> and <Jean> were recognized to be Italian and French forms of the same Latin name <Johannes>. Since all Western European languages shared a large stock of names from the Bible, saints' names, and so on, it was usually easy to translate a given name. But since <Ambra> is unique to Italian, it's not clear how it would have been translated. It might have been rendered as <Amber>, the English word for the same gemstone. However, we think it more likely that it would have become <Ambroise>, a French feminine forms of the saint's name <Ambrose> that might have been more familiar to 15th century English ears [4]. <Gentile> is recorded as a man's given name in Florence in 1427 [5]. Ambra daughter of Gentile would have been known as <Ambra di Gentile> [6]. In this period, a family of any wealth or social position would also have used a family name. You can find a list of 15th century Florentine family names on the web: http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/catasto/family_names.html If you chose the family name <Corsi>, for example, you might use the Italian name <Ambra di Gentile Corsi>, which follows a standard pattern of naming from your period. In England, that name might have been rendered as <Ambroise Corsey> or <Ambroise Gentile> [7]. Alternatively, you might want to choose the name of one of the merchant families of 15th century Florence. Once you choose an Italian family name, we'll be happy to suggest how it might have been translated to English. We 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 Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 15 Jun 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Favier, Jean, _Gold and Spices: The Rise of Commerce in the Middle Ages_, trans. Caroline Higgitt (New York: Holmes and Meier, 1998), pp.121-2. [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 Nomi Italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992), s.n. Ambra. [4] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. Ambrois [5] Ferrante laVolpe, _Men's names from Florence, 1427_ (WWW: Self-published, 1996). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto [6] Borgia, L., et. al., eds., _Le Biccherne : tavole dipinte delle magistrature senesi (secoli XIII-XVIII)_ (Roma : Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, 1984). [7] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.nn. Gentile, Decourcy.