ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3225 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3225 ************************************ 22 Nov 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if either <Mariana Maria Pietrosanti> or <Gabriella Pietrosanti> is an authentic 15th or 16th century Italian feminine name. Here is what we have found. Both <Marianna> (with two <n>'s) and <Maria> were used in Florence in 1427, and we also found <Gabriella> in 1427, in Pisa and Pistoia. [1,2] We were unable to find any evidence for <Pietrosanti> as a plausible byname during your period. However, we did find a similarly spelled byname, <Pietrasanta>, in the late 14th or early 15th century. [3] This byname is from the place <Pietrasanta>, which we find mentioned again in 1467. [4] Based on this, either <Pietrasanta> or <da Pietrasanta> 'of Pietrasanta' is a fine byname for this period. Double given names or middle names were common in some parts of Italy in your period and later. [5,6] The most common pattern was for one of the names to be a saint's name, usually the second [6,7], so using <Maria> as your second given name is a fine practice. In sum, we can recommend any of <Marianna Maria Pietrasanta>, <Marianna Maria da Pietrasanta>, <Gabriella Pietrasanta>, or <Gabriella da Pietrasanta> as an authentic name for your wife. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if anything was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Maridonna Benvenuti. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 22 November 2006 -- References: [1] 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/ [2] Herlihy, David and Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane. Census and property survey of Florentine domains and the city of Verona in fifteenth century Italy [machine- readable data file] / principal investigators, David Herlihy and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber. --Darcy ed. / reformatted by Robert Darcy -- Madison, Wis. : Data and Program Library Service [distributor], 1981 and 1996. [3] Shama\, Davide, "Genealogie Delle Dinastie Nobili Italiane" (WWW: Self-published, 2003-2006) http://www.sardimpex.com/ [4] di Crollalanza, G.B., _Dizionario Storico - Blasonico delle Famiglie Nobili e Notabili Italiane Estinte e Fiorenti_, 3 vols (Arnaldo Forni Editore, 1886), s.n. Pietrasanta [5] Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane, _Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy_, translated by Lydia G. Cochrane (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985), pp. 255-258. The author notes, "Approximately 60% of the nine hundred children of Florentine bourgeois families studied by means of familial documentation bear a second given name in the period 1360-1530." [6] Lyneya Fairbowe, unpublished research based on a baptismal register from Palermo 1561-3 that is available from the research library of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Her data shows many examples of double and triple given names. [7] James S. Grubb, _Provincial Families of the Renaissance: Private and Public Life in the Veneto_ (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), pp. 42-7.