ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3138 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3138 ************************************ 11 Aug 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help creating a name for your wife, appropriate for a middle to upper class Venetian woman living in the early to mid 16th century, married to a Florentine merchant. You said she was interested in the given name <Celeste>, and wanted to know whether she'd take your byname after marriage, or whether she'd continue to use her old byname. If the latter, you wanted to know whether <Da Venetia>, <Di Latzoni>, or <Da Catania> are appropriate. Here is the information we have found. We have not been able to find any evidence that <Celeste> was used anywhere in Italy during our period. We did find one example of the name <Celestina>, from around 1500. [1] <Catania> is a city and a province in Sicily. We found one example of the Latinized form <Cathania> used as a byname sometime after 1145, as well as the Greek form <Kata/ne:> in the late 11th and early 12th centuries. (Here, the / represents an acute accent over the previous letter, and the <e:> represents the Greek letter eta as opposed to epsilon). [2] We also found a related family name in later-period Florence: <Catani>. We believe that <Catani> is also appropriate for Venice. [3] We didn't find any pre-modern examples of <Latzoni>; our suspicion is that the spelling of your wife's ancestor's name was modified upon reaching the United States. The most likely Italian form is <Lazzoni>, which is quite common as a modern surname. [4] Unfortunately, we were not able to trace this name back to the 16th century; the closest we found is the family name <Lazzeri>, recorded in late-period Florence. [3,5] <Lazzeri> is a variant of <Lazzari>, which is from <Lazzaro>, the Italian form of <Lazarus>. If you and your wife are currently living in Florence, then <da Venezia> 'of Venice' is a fine choice [3], though it's unlikely that she'd be known as 'of Venice' if you were living in Venice. Note that the spelling <Venetia> is not correct, and the preposition <da> shouldn't be capitalized. Most of our information concerning married women's bynames during the 15th and 16th centuries is from Florence and surrounding cities in Tuscany, though we do have some from other regions. We found a wide variety of naming practices. A woman might use her father's surname, her husband's surname, or both simultaneously. She might also be identified by her husband's full name, or by just his given name. One important influence on surname was the relative importance of the husband's and wife's families. In some cases, where the wife's family was better known than the husband's, _he_ would take her name upon marriage. [6] 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 Maridonna Benvenuti, Ines Alfon, Talan Gwynek, Ursula Georges, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 11 August 2006 -- References: [1] Shama\, Davide, "Genealogie Delle Dinastie Nobili Italiane" (WWW: Self-published, 2003-2006) http://www.sardimpex.com/ [2] Caracausi, Girolamo, _Dizionario Onomastico della Sicilia_ (Palermo, 1994), s.n. Catania. [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] http://www.google.com [5] 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/ [6] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #3052 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3052