ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 995 http://www.s-gabriel.org/995 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* From: "S Friedemann" 25 May 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked our opinion on the name , which you wanted to use for a feminine persona from Florence, Italy, between the late 1400s and the mid 1500s. You also asked if we could suggest some books or web links on practices and names from that time. Here is the information we have found. Your choice of name is perfect; in one study of Italian Renassiance Women's names between the 14th and 15th century, occurs more than four times. [1] To complete your name, you'll want to add an appropriate surname. In your period, a woman was most often known either by a patronymic byname (a surname which identified her father) or a locative byname (a surname which identified the place where she lived). A common form of patronymic was "di" plus the father's given name or his full name, e.g. , Margherita di Francesco Alberti>. You can find a list of masculine given names and patronymics formed them on the web at Italian Names from Florence, 1427 http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto Locative bynames could be based on the name of a town, a neighborhood, a parish church, a city gate, or any convenient generic description of the place where you live, e.g. (from a place called San Piero), (from the valley). If you are interested in reading further on this, we'd like to suggest to you the biography of Benevenuto Cellini, an enjoyable account of life in Renaissance Florence. [2] We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur. For the Academy, Arianuia filia Catmaili ----------------------------------- References: [1] Rhian Lyth, "Italian Renaissance Women's Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996) URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/italian.html. [2] _Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini_, by Benvenuto Cellini, tr. George Anthony Bull, Michael Sad; Penguin Classics (Viking Press, ISBN 0140440496).