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You asked for our opinion of the name 'Matteo de Fortuna' as a name in late
14th century or early 15th century Florence, and on the use of wolves or
ferrets in arms. Here is what we have found.
There is an excellent survey of Renaissance Florentine names available on
the web at http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto. It is based on a
census of Florence taken in 1427. In that data, "Matteo" is the 13th most
common given name.
The surname "de Fortuna" does not appear in that database, but it is listed
in another of our sources as being a common name throughout Italy [1].
That source notes that this form was particularly associated with the
region of Venice. The surname derives from the given name "Fortuna", which
was used by both men and women. In your period, it would prbably have been
construed as a patronymic, meaning that your father's name was "Fortuna".
The name "Matteo de Fortuna" is undoubtedly correct for your period, and
could possibly have occurred in Florence. However, because we could not
find "de Fortuna" in use in Florence, we recommend that you consider other
surnames. The web page mentioned above includes a link to a "Patronymic
list by frequency". These are patronymic bynames which are recorded in the
census. You could form your name with any one of them. For example, the
first entries on the list are "Giovanni", "Francesco", and "Piero", so you
might call yourself "Matteo di Giovanni", "Matteo di Francesco", or "Matteo
di Piero".
Wolves are fairly common in period armory, so they would be a fine choice
for your arms. Ferrets have not been found in period arms, but similar
beasts do occur occasionally: ermines and martens. Animate charges are
generally less common in Italian arms than elsewhere, but they were
certainly used. We would not recommend trying to use both wolves and
ferrets in a single design; no more than one complex charge is a good
rule-of-thumb for designing period-style arms.
I hope this letter has been helpful.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] De Felice, Emidio, Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani, Arnoldo Mondadori
Editore, 1978.