ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1961 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1961 ************************************ From: Lisa and Ken Theriot 22 Feb 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether <Iris Phaedra d'Angelo> would be an appropriate name for an Italian woman living in the first half of the 16th century. You also mentioned registering arms using irises as a charge. Here is the information we have found. Both <Iris> and <Phaedra> were used as feminine given names in classical Greece. [1] There were Greek-speaking communities in parts of Italy during your period, and many names from classical mythology were adopted by Italians during the revival of interest in classical culture that accompanied the Renaissance. We find many names from Greek sources throughout Italy, though usually in a slightly modified form. We find <Iride> as the Italian form of <Iris>; we have evidence for it in Renaissance Italy, so it is a possible choice. We did not find the exact form <Iris>, and we believe that it was not used in Italy until after your period.[2] We found no examples of <Phaedra> during your period. The Italian form, <Fedra>, seems to be a modern revival of the name.[2] Many names from ancient Greece fell out of fashion prior to the Middle Ages and were only revived in more modern times. Since we cannot find evidence of <Fedra> occurring during your period, we cannot recommend it as a good choice. We believe most people in your period had only one given name. Double given names (or middle names) were used, but were much less common than they are in modern Western culture. We generally recommend using only one given name unless you have a strong re-creative reason for using two. If you would like some other ideas of Italian women's names for your period, the Academy library has several articles at <http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/#italy> which might help. Your proposed surname, <d'Angelo>, is common in many forms throughout Italy for your period. It is a fine choice.[3] You proposed using natural irises in designing your arms. Naturalistic depictions of flowers are rare in period armory. We found few examples of naturalistic flora in armory for your period, and none which used irises. As an alternative, you might consider using a fleur-de-lis, which is believed by many to be a stylized iris. The fleur-de-lis was very common in late-period Italian heraldry and would be an excellent choice for your arms. It was very common for a period armiger to bear arms containing a charge whose name sounded similar to her surname. This practice is called "canting". However, these references were almost exclusively to the surname, not to the given name. That is to say, John Wolvington might bear a wolf to refer to his name, but Wolfgang Hesse wouldn't. Consider that arms were usually intended to be passed down through many generations, so a reference to the original bearer's given name wouldn't be useful two generations later. In summary, <Iride d'Angelo> is a plausible choice for your name, and armory featuring fleurs-de-lis would be appropriate for your chosen culture. We hope this letter has been helpful. Please feel free to write again if you have other questions or if any part of this letter has been unclear. I was assisted in writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Maridonna Benvenuti, Pedro de Alcazar, Raquel Buenaventura, Rouland Carre, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 22 February 2000 References: [1] Fraser, P.M., and E. Matthews, The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, (WWW: Oxford University, 1998), http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/ , accessed 22 February 2000 ( Volume II, s.n. Iris/Irij [http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/v2accented/v2fi.htm], Faidra [http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/v2accented/v2ff.htm]). [2] De Felice, Emidio, dizionario dei nomi italiani. Arnoldo Mondadori: Milan, 1986 (s.n. Iride, Fedra). [3] De Felice, Emidio, Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1978 (s.n. Angeli).