ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2078 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2078 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 10 May 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! Your friend wanted to know if was an authentic medieval Italian masculine name. Here is the information we have found. is found 69 times in the 1427 Catasto of Florence, making one of the 30 most common names from that source. [1] In the same source, is found 82 times. We also found and in Venice in the 14th century. [1,2] The surname derives from the given name or , meaning "son of or ". We find it spelled as in Venice and in Florence. [1,2] The practice of using two given names was quite rare in Europe in the Middle Ages; we have very few examples of this in Italy, and recommend that your friend use either or as his given name, but not both. In sum, would be an excellent name for a man from Venice in the 13th or 14th century, and would be a good choice for someone living in Florence in the 14th century. 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. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 10May00 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Ferrante laVolpe, _Men's names from Florence, 1427_ (WWW: Self-published, 1996; J. Mittleman, 1999) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/ferrante/catasto]. [2] Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek, "Fourteenth Century Venetian Personal Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/venice14/].