Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 543

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 543

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/543

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

Greetings,

Here's the information we found on the Italian last names "Montanieri" and "Chiacchieri."

We didn't find an example of "Montanieri," but we did find many similar names--Montagnaro, Montagnari, Montanaro, Montanari, and Montanarini. In these names, "gn" is pronounced like the "ni" in "onion" and "Montanieri." All these names meant "person from the mountains (or hills)." (1,2)

We didn't find an example of "Chiacchieri" as a name, but it is an Italian word meaning "gossipers" or "of [the family of] the gossip". We think that it is quite plausible that someone might have been called "Chiacchiero" (the gossip), and that his family might have been called "Chiacchieri" (the gossip's [family]).

You asked about "de Lioncourt." We recommend that you not use it as part of your Society name. First, it is French rather than Italian. Languages were rarely mixed in personal names in period. Second, this name is closely associated with a fictional character, the vampire Lestat. It's generally not a good idea to bring modern literary references into the medieval game.

You mentioned that you are planning on looking for a first name in baby name books. We strongly discourage this. Almost every baby name book is completely worthless as a historical source.

For general information on what makes a good source, look at our Web page

http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/faq/sources.html

For a list of references and sources, try

http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs

We have several references to Italian names from around your period, for both men and women.

Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel

(1) De Felice, E. "Dizionario del cognomi italiani."

(2) Fucilla, J. "Our Italian Surnames."