ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3137 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3137 ************************************ 10 Aug 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for a Florentine man in the early to mid 16th century. Here is the information we have found. is a good choice for your given name; in one study of masculine names from Florence between 1282 and 1532, is the fifth most popular man's name, occuring 3681 times. [1] In another survey of names from Florence in 1427, is the second most popular man's name, with 661 instances. [2] We have been unable to find any pre-1600 examples of . It appears to be a modern variant of , which is a diminutive of 'nail'. could have been used as a byname for either a carpenter, or someone else who works with nails, or for a skinny person. However, we haven't found any examples of , either, so we cannot recommend it as the best re-creation. Additionally, we have not found any examples of men with two family names, so even if we had evidence for we'd recommend that you use either or , but not both. In the same study of names from Florence between 1282 and 1532, the family name occurs 593 times, making it one of the most popular family names. [3] Note that is not correct; the preposition in Florentine Italian is used in patronymic bynames, i.e., ones based on the bearer's father's given name, not his family name. The standard form of this family name is , often abbreviated . [4] Based on this, we can recommend or as a good name for your place and period. A patronymic byname would also be appropriate; if you'd like to chose a name for your father, we recommend the following article: "Italian Given Names from the Online Tratte of Office Holders 1282-1532" http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/italian/florence1282-1532.html For example, a name such as or would be reasonable for your period. We hope that this 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, Ari Ansson, Arval Benicoeur, Walraven van Nijmegen, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 10 August 2006 -- References: [1] Friedemann, Sara L., "Italian Given Names from the Online Tratte of Office Holders 1282-1532" (WWW: Self-published, 2001-2002) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/italian/florence1282-1532.html [2] Ferrante laVolpe, _Men's names from Florence, 1427_ (WWW: Self-published, 1996; Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto/ [3] 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/ [4] "The Medici Archive Project" (WWW: Medici.org, 2005) http://documents.medici.org/document_details.cfm?entryid=18942&returnstr=orderby=SendName@is_search=1@result_id=0 lists in Florence 1539 http://documents.medici.org/document_details.cfm?entryid=6069&returnstr=orderby=SendName@is_search=1@result_id=0 lists in Florence 1543 http://documents.medici.org/document_details.cfm?entryid=6871&returnstr=orderby=SendName@is_search=1@result_id=20 lists in Florence 1545 http://documents.medici.org/volume_details.cfm?mdp=196 lists 1551-1555