ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3331
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3331
************************************

27 Jul 2007
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Sapphira>, which you believe is the Italian
word for 'sapphire', was used as a given name in medieval Italy, and
if not, if we could recommend names appropriate for a woman living in
Florence.  Here is what we have found.

The Italian word for sapphire is <zaffiro>, not <sapphiro> or
<sapphira>.  In modern Italian <Zaffiro> is used as both a masculine
and a feminine name, and as a masculine it is found most commonly in
Lombardy.  In the Veneto, the form <Zaffira> is used as a feminine
name. [1]  However, we do not know when either form first came into
use.  We did find a Sicilian woman recorded as <Safira> after 1299,
but we cannot tell from the context whether this is her given name or
her byname. [2]  However, even if <Safira> was the given name of the
Sicilian woman, this would not give us evidence for the name in
Florence.  It's not impossible that some form of <zaffiro> was used as
a given name in medieval Florence, but without clear evidence that it
was, we cannot recommend it as good re-creation.

Since you said you were looking for a name which would be appropriate
for a woman in Florence, we've given below a list of feminine names
beginning with <S-> or <Z-> that are found in Florence in 1427 (we've
grouped variants of the same name together): [3]

  Salvaggia, Salvagia, Selvaggia
  Salvatica  
  Salvestra  
  Sandra   
  Santa    
  Sapia, Sappia, Savia    
  Scatta   
  Simona   
  Smeralda    
  Solia    
  Spinetta
  Stefana
  Stella
  Zanobia, Zenobia
  Zebaina
  Zita

Other names not beginning with <S-> or <Z-> can also be found in
source [3].

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, Coblaith Mhuimhneach, Talan Gwynek,
and Ursula Georges.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 27 July 2007

--
References:

[1] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei nomi italiani_ (Arnoldo 
Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992), s.n. Zaffiro.

[2] Caracausi, Girolamo, _Dizionario Onomastico della Sicilia_ 
(Palermo, 1994), s.n. Zaffiro.

[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/