ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2892 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2892 ************************************ 21 May 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked if the Italian feminine name was used in the 16th century, and if not, if we could recommend similar-sounding northern Italian names that were. Here is a brief letter with the information that we found. As we said in our previous correspondence, is a short form of . Both and are found in southern Italy in the 11th and 12th centuries. [1] However, we were unable to find any evidence that remained in use after the 12th century. Therefore, we cannot recommend it or for any time after the 12th century. We were unable to find any later-period northern Italian feminine name that sounded especially similar to . Two that might interest you are , found in Renaissance Florence, and , found in Florence in 1427. [2,3] If neither of these names interest you, we recommend that you browse the articles linked here: Medieval Names Archive: Italian Names http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/italian.shtml We hope that this brief letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Maridonna Benvenuti, Walraven van Nijmegen, Juliana de Luna, and Arval Benicoeur. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 21May2004 -- References: [1] "And Her Name Was. . .?" Gender and Naming in Medieval Southern Italy by Patricia Skinner, Medevial Prosopography, History and Collective Biography, vol. 20, 1999. p. 39 [2] Rhian Lyth, "Italian Renaissance Women's Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/rhian/italian.html. [3] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1998). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catasto/