Personal Names from Early 17th C Bar, Montenegro

by Sara L. Uckelman
known in the SCA as Aryanhwy merch Catmael

© 2013 Sara L. Uckelman; all rights reserved
last updated 23Oct13

The following names are taken from Latin records relating to the Bishopric of Bar, Montenegro, dating to 1609. From the period 1443 to 1571, Bar was under the control of Venice, and the language spoken there was Venetian. The Ottomans conquered Bar in 1571, but the names still show strong Italian influence through the end of the century, and into the beginning of the next. What is curious is that some of the names show clear Slavic influence, particularly in byname construction.

Feminine given names, by frequency

NameNumberNotes
Angelina4
Margarita2
Anna1
Catharina1
Christina1
Flora1
Francisca1
Helena1
Hirenes1
Rosa1
Stanizza1
Vincentia1

Masculine given names

NameNumberNotes
Alexander1
Dabus1
Damianus1
Joannes1
Michael1
Nicolaus1
Radus1
Vucinna1

Bynames

For information about name patterns, consult the full list of complete names.

The following are all the bynames which are not Latin relational bynames.

NameNumberNotes
Fominus1The capital is a bit unclear; this could be Tominus.
de Maine2loc. It would be curious if this referred to the French province.
Medini3loc. from Medini, Bosnia.
de Montenigro1loc. from Montenegro.
Pastra1
Pastrovicchi1This is an Italianized form of Paštrovići, the name of a coastal tribe in Montenegro.
de Pobori1This could be related to the Serbian coastal tribal clan Pobori.
de Raicich1Raicich is, modernly, an Italian family name.
Ruzzaevich1A Slavic patronymic from Ruzza.
de Spizza3Spizza is the Venetian name of Sutomore, a small coastal town in Bar.
de villa Braicchi1
q. Vucich1This is an Italianized form of the Serbo-Croation family name Vučić.
Vuchsanni1This may perhaps be an Italian form of Vučani, a village in Croatia.
Zanovich1A Slavic patronymic from Zan, which can be a Venetian form of John.
de Zupza1loc. perhaps from Župča, a village in Bosnia.

The following given names all appeared in the Latin genitive as part of relational bynames, both marked (e.g., uxor X, filius X, etc.), and unmarked. I have listed them with both nominative and genitive forms. The nominative forms could be used as given names; the genitive are appropriate only in the context of bynames.

Masculine given names

NominativeGenitiveNumber
AndreaAndreæ1
JacobusJacobi1
LucaLuci1
MarcusMarci1
NicolausNicolai3
GeorgiusGeorgii2
SeculusSeculi1
StephanusStephani5
VincentiusVincentii1
VucusVuci2

Feminine given names

NominativeGenitiveNumber
HelenaHelenæ1
RulizzaRulizzæ1

Source

Farlatus, Dan, Illyricum sacrum, http://books.google.de/books?id=z1zLr_T1esUC.