ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2380 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2380 ************************************ 26 Oct 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a man from 14th or 15th century Italy. This letter is a brief answer to your question. is a fine name, at least for a Florentine. It was recorded in Florence in 1427 and of course the Florentine poet lived from 1265 to 1321 [1, 2]. Unfortunately, we have not found any information about the origin of the surname . It may be significant that none of the modern examples of the name that we found is in Italy: Many immigrants to the US had their names modified by immigration officials, often in ways that made them unrecognizable. If you'd like to consider another surname, we can recommend a couple lists of Florentine surnames from your period: Florentine Renaissance Resources: Online Tratte of Office Holders 1282-1532: List of Family Names http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/tratte/doc/SURNAM1.html Family Names Appearing in the Catasto of 1427 http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto/family_names.html They contain some names that look similar to , e.g. , though none of them appears to be related to it. We hope this brief letter has been useful; we're sorry we couldn't tell you more. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Adelaide de Beaumont, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 26 Oct 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Ferrante laVolpe, _Men's names from Florence, 1427_ (WWW: Self-published, 1996; J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto [2] "Dante Alighieri", The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001. http://www.bartleby.com/65/da/DanteAli.html