ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 981
http://www.s-gabriel.org/981
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From: 
10 Jun 1998


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You wrote to us, asking on behalf of a friend, who would like to know how
to construct a name meaning "Sophia, daughter of David", for a Renaissance
Italian Jewess.

<Sophia> is a Christian name of Greek origin, and probably became popular
through the cults of several legedary saints by that name [1,2].  Two of
these are the Santa Sofia martyred at Rome, and Santa Sofia of
Constantinople.  We don't think it would've been a likely name for a
Renaissance Italian Jewess, since it isn't really a "Jewish name".

However, since you indicate she is really attached to the name, we can
provide your friend with a late-period Italian form, and with suggestions
on forming a Jewish name.

While we could not find <Sophia> in Italian sources dated to period, the
Latin form of the name occurs in Hungary [3], France [4], and England [5]
in period, each of which had contact with Italy.  The spelling <Sofia>
would be more consistent with what we know about Italian spelling [6].

The name "David" is found in Italian as:  <Davide> (most common form, and
as early as the 8th century), <David>, and <Davit> [7].  The form <di
Davide> would thus be a reasonable Italian form of the patronymic.  Note
that <Davide> has three syllables, with the stress on the first,
\DAH-veed-eh\.  Alternatively, she could use <Davidi> as a patronymic.
Either <Sofia di Davide> or <Sofia Davidi> is reasonable in Italian. 

By the late Renaissance, she might also be using a family name.  If she
reads about medieval Jewish history, she will probably come across examples
of Italian Jews and might borrow one of their family names.  There are a
great many books available on the Jews in medieval Europe.

If your friend really wants to be an Italian Jew, she should be aware of
certain points of Jewisn culture.  In most of Europe, Jews used two names: 
A Hebrew name, used mostly within their own communities, and a vernacular
name.  The vernacular name could be a translation or transliteration of
the Hebrew name, or it could be a completely separate name.  Some Jews
used names with very strong Christian associations.  We don't have any
material specifically on Italian Jewish names, but she can look at the
following two articles on the web to get a general idea of how Jews were
named in European Christian communities: 

  Jewish Naming Conventions in Angevin England
  http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/jewish.html

  An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris
  http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html#jewish

If she wants to construct a Jewish name, she could start by choosing an
appropriate Hebrew name, and these articles can help her with that.  For
example, <Sarah bas Daveed> "Sarah daughter of David" would be a fine
choice.  The same woman might have been used in Italian as <Sarah di
Davide> or <Sarah Davidi>.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. 
Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin,
Antonio Miguel de Santos Borja, Pedro de Alcazar, Zenobia Naphtali, Evan
da Collaureo, Lindorm Erikkson, Teceangl Bach, and Alan Fairfax
contributed to this letter.

In service,
--Walraven van Nijmegen
Academy of S. Gabriel

[1] Emidio De Felice, _Dizionario dei Nomi Italiani_ (Milan, 1992)

[2] Butler, _Lives of the Saints_

[3] Walraven van Nijmegen, _Hungarian Feminine Names_ (WWW, 1998)
    http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1336/magfem.html
    --all instances of <Sophia> are dated to the 16th century.

[4] M.-T. Morlet, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l' Ancienne
    Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, vol. II (Paris: Centre National de la 
    Recherche Scientifique, 1972) 
    --she cites two examples from the 11th century.

[5] E.G. Withycombe, _The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Names_, 3rd ed.
    (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988) 
    --says that the first English example known to her is the youngest
    daughter of James I (born 1607), who was named after her maternal
    grandmother (obviously period).

[6] In the feminine names from the Florentine Catasto of 1427, Italian 'f'
    has pretty consistently replaced Latin 'ph'. 

[7] Emidio De Felice, _Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani_ (Milan, 1978)