ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2550
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2550
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09 Jul 2002
From: SARA LIANA FRIEDEMANN 


Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Anna Rosa di Florenza> or <Anna Rosa la Bella di 
Florenza> would be an appropriate name for a 15th century Florentine 
woman.  If a patronymic would be more appropriate, you indicated 
interest in the name <Orlando>.  You also asked about the arms "Argent, 
two axes crossed in saltire sable, on a chief azure, three mullets of 
six points Or."

Both <Anna> and <Rosa> are fine names; they are found in Florence in 
1427.  [1]  Although we believe that the custom of using two given 
names was still rare in 15th century Italy, we believe it was done 
occasionally.  So we believe either <Anna> or <Rosa> would be more 
typical, but that <Anna Rosa> could also have been used.

<La Bella> and <Labella> are descriptive bynames meaning "beautiful"; 
both are found frequently throughout Italy.  [2]  By your period, this 
could either be used as a literal descriptive, or as an inherited 
family name.

The other byname you asked about, <de Florenza>, is not quite correct.  
The Italian name for Florence is <Firenze>.  Latin forms of the name 
preserved the original <Flor-> spelling, but not Italian forms.  
Similarly, <de> is Latin rather than Italian.  A woman from Florence 
might have been identified as <da Firenze> or, more often, <la 
Fiorentina> "the Florentine [woman]". [2,4]

In the earlier part of your period when surnames were used literally, 
we would expect to find this byname outside Florence, not in the city 
itself: Bynames were used to distinguish people, and calling a 
person "the Florentine" in Florence isn't a useful distinguishing 
characteristic.  However, a Florentine who moved to the suburbs or to 
another city would very likely have been identified that way.

By the end of your period, surnames were usually inherited; and an 
originally-literal byname like <la Fiorentina> might have become fixed 
as an inherited family name, often in the simpler, gender-neutral, form 
<Fiorentini>.

You are right that a woman of your period would most often have been 
identified as her father's daughter.  <Orlando> was a fairly popular 
name in Florence during your period; it would be a fine choice for your 
father's name. [3,4].  The patronym formed from this name would be <di 
Orlando>.  The form <Orlandi> would not have been a literal patronym, 
but rather an inherited family name, much like <Fiorentini> vs. <la 
Fiorentina> discussed above. [5]  Either formation would be appropriate.

While all of the surnames that you've chosen are appropriate, it is not 
likely that a woman of your period would have used more than one of 
them at any given time.  In formal circumstances, a patronymic or 
locative surname would be most appropriate; it would only be in 
informal circumstances where she'd be known by a descriptive like <la 
Bella>.

We find evidence of a number of the elements in your arms in Tuscan 
armory: charges crossed in saltire, charged chiefs, and mullets of 
either 6 or 8 points.  We haven't found any evidence for axes in 
Italian armory, but we did find hammers crossed in saltire in the arms 
of Sergardi in 1479. [3] We recommend that you consider dropping one of 
the tinctures, either by making the chief and the axes the same color, 
or the mullets and the field the same color; we have found it rare for 
Italian armory to combine so many different colors.

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.  Research and commentary on this letter were provided by 
Maridonna Benvenuti, Raquel Buenaventura, Juliana la Caminante de 
Navarra, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Ursula Georges, and Adelaide de 
Beaumont.

For the Academy,
~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 09Jul02

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References:

[1] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of 
Florence of 1427" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998)
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catasto.

[2] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei cognomi italiani_ (Arnoldo 
Mondadori Editore, 1978). s.nn. Belli, Firenze, Orlando

[3] Borgia, L., et. al., eds., _Le Biccherne : tavole dipinte delle 
magistrature senesi (secoli XIII-XVIII)_ (Roma : Ministero per i beni 
culturali e ambientali, 1984).

[4] Herlihy, David, R. Burr Litchfield, and Anthony Molho, "Florentine 
Renaissance Resources: Online Tratte of Office Holders 1282-1532" (WWW: 
Brown University, Providence, RI, 2000)
http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/tratte/.

[5] Ferrante laVolpe, _Men's names from Florence, 1427_ (WWW: Self-
published, 1996; J. Mittleman, 1999)
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto