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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for information about <Rocca> as a period Italian given name and about <Ferguson> as a period Scottish byname. Here is what we have found.
We have not found any example of the given name <Rocca> used in period Italy, but we believe it is likely that it was used. The masculine form <Rocco> was used in Italy as early as the 9th century and became particularly common in the 15th century, especially in Venice and in the south of Italy, in veneration of <Saint Roche>, the patron of plague victims [2]. Both the masculine and feminine forms are common in Italy today [1]. So although we do not have a citation of <Rocca> in use in period, we think it is likely that it was used at least in the 15th century.
<Ferguson> is a Scots surname, an anglicization of the original <mac
Fergus>. Scots is a language that was spoken in the Lowlands of Scotland
in the last centuries of our period; it is closely related to English. The
earliest example we can find of the spelling <Fergusson> is from 1466;
Latin records from as early as 1336 suggest that it was in use earlier.
Other period forms include <Fargisone> 1499, <Feresoun> 1539, <Fargesoun>
1581 [3]. Originally, this name would have been used only by men and
specifically only by men whose fathers were named <Fergus>. Around 1500 we
start finding examples of women being recorded with apparently masculine
patronymics, e.g. <Effric Makfatric> 1504, so it is possible that
<Fergusson> could have been recorded as part of a woman's name at that date
as well [3]. However, the patronymic meaning would still have been
named <Fergus>.
We hope you aren't planning to combine these two names: We can imagine no circumstance in which a medieval woman could have used an Italian given name and a Scottish surname. Mixed language names were almost unknown in our period. If a person travelled from one country to another, she would have translated her name into the language of her new home. <Rocca> is a good first name for a late-period Italian persona, and <Fergusson> is a good last name for a late-period Scots persona; but there is no way they could have been used by the same person.
I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Effric neyn Kennyeoch and Talan Gwynek.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] De Felice, Emidio. Dizionario dei Nomi Italiani (Arnoldo Mondadori
Editore, Milan, 1992).
[2] De Felice, Emidio, Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani (Arnoldo Mondadori
Editore, 1978).
[3] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and
History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986).