ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3325 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3325 ************************************ 24 May 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an authentic name for a 16th century Italian woman. Here is what we have found. We haven't found any examples of in Italy before modern times, but we have found two variants. Both and are recorded in Florence in 1427. We also found in Verona between 1425 and 1502 and in Palermo in 1480. [1,2,3] We can therefore recommend either or as a fine name for a 15th century woman. Because we haven't found any examples of the name in the 16th century, we cannot recommend it as the best re-creation for that period, but it's not an impossible choice. We have found a place called on the Italian Riviera in Liguria. The city was named in 1123, but the spelling had developed by the 13th century. [4] As this is the modern form of the name as well, we have no reason to think that this spelling is not also appropriate for the 15th and 16th centuries. Hence we can recommend as a fine choice for your period. Note, however, that is not: We have no support for adding the second apostrophe. 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, Ursula Georges, Arval Benicoeur, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 24 May 2007 -- 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] Di Pasquale, Armando, _Palermo nel 1480. La popolazione del quartiere della Kalsa_ (Palermo: Edizioni Mori, 1975). [3] Herlihy, David and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber. Census and property survey of Florentine domains and the city of Verona in the fifteenth century ltaly [machine- readable data file]. Cambridge, Mass.: David Herlihy, Harvard University, Department of History and Paris, France: Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes [producers], 1977. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin, Data and Program Library Service [distributor], 1988 and 1996. http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/Catasto/index.html [4] _Dizionario di toponomastica. Storia e significato dei nomi geografici italiani_ (Torino: UTET LIbreria, 2006), s.n. Alassio.