Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 439

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 439

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/439

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for our opinion of the name 'Claudio' as a name in 15th century Italy. Here is what we've found.

"Claudio" is a common Italian given name in modern Italy. It derived from the ancient Roman name "Claudius" [1], and was apparently in continuous use throughout our period. Our sources on period Italian names are unfortunately not good enough for us to give you specific, dated examples of the name.

The name "Clyde" is not related to "Claudio". "Clyde" is an American given name taken from the name of a Scottish river. It was first given to African slaves imported to the Americas, and only spread to the general population in the 1960s [2].

I hope this letter has been helpful.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] De Felice, Emidio, Dizionario dei Nomi Italiani (Milan: Arnoldo

Mondadori, 1986)

[2] Leslie Dunkling and William Gosling, The New American Dictionary of

First Names (New York: Signet, 1983)