Early 15th-Early 17th C Italian Names
by Sara L. Uckelman
known in the SCA as Aryanhwy merch Catmael
© 2005-2006 Sara L. Uckelman; all rights reserved
last updated 16Aug06
The following 215 names are collected from manuscript papers of the Medici family in the early 15th to early 17th centuries. Most of the men mentioned are merchants or money dealers from Florence and surrounding areas, but ship captains to foreign ports, Italian merchants in Turkey, Greece, and France, and translators (dragomen) stationed all over Europe are also mentioned. All of the names are clearly Italian, and are in standard Florentine dialect spellings.
Two Greeks and two women were mentioned. The Greeks are Cosano di Negroponte, from Brusa in Turkey and Luca Soffiano, from Pera in Turkey. The two women were named Alessandra and Francesca. I have created a separate list of Jews mentioned in these documents.
The given names are listed below, in two tables. I will eventually sort the surnames and provide a discussion of name patterns, but until then, you can just browse the raw data.
Given names
Given name,
alphabetically | Given names,
by frequency |
|---|
| Name | Number |
|---|
| Agnolo | 2 |
| Agostino | 1 |
| Alessandro | 3 |
| Andrea | 3 |
| Antonio | 11 |
| Averardo | 2 |
| Baccio | 1 |
| Baldassare | 1 |
| Bartolommeo | 5 |
| Bastiano | 1 |
| Battista | 3 |
| Benedetto | 2 |
| Bernardo | 12 |
| Bonicho | 1 |
| Brettone | 1 |
| Cadere | 1 |
| Caderre | 1 |
| Carlo | 3 |
| Chogia | 1 |
| Cosimo | 2 |
| Cresci | 1 |
| Daniello | 1 |
| Dionigi | 1 |
| Domenico | 2 |
| Donato | 1 |
| Filippo | 4 |
| Francesco | 17 |
| Fredino | 1 |
| Gentile | 1 |
| Gherardo | 1 |
| Gianfrancesco | 1 |
| Giannetto | 1 |
| Giannozzi | 1 |
| Gino | 1 |
| Giovanbattista | 4 |
| Giovaneco | 2 |
| Giovanni | 12 |
| Girolamo | 4 |
| Giuliano | 7 |
| Giulio | 2 |
| Guido | 2 |
| Jacopo | 4 |
| Justasada | 1 |
| Lazzaro | 1 |
| Lionardo | 4 |
| Lorenzo | 5 |
| Lucantonio | 1 |
| Luigi | 3 |
| Manoli | 1 |
| Marcantonio | 1 |
| Marino | 2 |
| Mariotto | 1 |
| Matteo | 3 |
| Nattal | 1 |
| Neri | 1 |
| Niccolo | 1 |
| Nicolo | 13 |
| Orazio | 1 |
| Ottaviano | 1 |
| Pacie | 1 |
| Pagolo | 2 |
| Pandolfo | 1 |
| Pantaleo | 1 |
| Paolo | 1 |
| Papasso | 1 |
| Piero | 8 |
| Polo | 1 |
| Raffaello | 2 |
| Ricciardi | 1 |
| Rudi | 1 |
| Rustico | 1 |
| Sandro | 1 |
| Santi | 3 |
| Simone | 2 |
| Tomasino | 2 |
| Tomaso | 3 |
| Tommaso | 1 |
| Tozzo | 1 |
| Venturi | 1 |
| Viatti | 1 |
| Zanobi | 3 |
| Zanobio | 1 |
|
| Name | Number |
|---|
| Francesco | 17 |
| Nicolo | 13 |
| Bernardo | 12 |
| Giovanni | 12 |
| Antonio | 11 |
| Piero | 8 |
| Giuliano | 7 |
| Bartolommeo | 5 |
| Lorenzo | 5 |
| Filippo | 4 |
| Giovanbattista | 4 |
| Girolamo | 4 |
| Jacopo | 4 |
| Lionardo | 4 |
| Alessandro | 3 |
| Andrea | 3 |
| Battista | 3 |
| Carlo | 3 |
| Luigi | 3 |
| Matteo | 3 |
| Santi | 3 |
| Tomaso | 3 |
| Zanobi | 3 |
| Agnolo | 2 |
| Averardo | 2 |
| Benedetto | 2 |
| Cosimo | 2 |
| Domenico | 2 |
| Giovaneco | 2 |
| Giulio | 2 |
| Guido | 2 |
| Marino | 2 |
| Pagolo | 2 |
| Raffaello | 2 |
| Simone | 2 |
| Tomasino | 2 |
| Agostino | 1 |
| Baccio | 1 |
| Baldassare | 1 |
| Bastiano | 1 |
| Bonicho | 1 |
| Brettone | 1 |
| Cadere | 1 |
| Caderre | 1 |
| Chogia | 1 |
| Cresci | 1 |
| Daniello | 1 |
| Dionigi | 1 |
| Donato | 1 |
| Fredino | 1 |
| Gentile | 1 |
| Gherardo | 1 |
| Gianfrancesco | 1 |
| Giannetto | 1 |
| Giannozzi | 1 |
| Gino | 1 |
| Justasada | 1 |
| Lazzaro | 1 |
| Lucantonio | 1 |
| Manoli | 1 |
| Marcantonio | 1 |
| Mariotto | 1 |
| Nattal | 1 |
| Neri | 1 |
| Niccolo | 1 |
| Orazio | 1 |
| Ottaviano | 1 |
| Pacie | 1 |
| Pandolfo | 1 |
| Pantaleo | 1 |
| Paolo | 1 |
| Papasso | 1 |
| Polo | 1 |
| Ricciardi | 1 |
| Rudi | 1 |
| Rustico | 1 |
| Sandro | 1 |
| Tommaso | 1 |
| Tozzo | 1 |
| Venturi | 1 |
| Viatti | 1 |
| Zanobio | 1 |
|
Surnames
Five people, including the two women, had no surname.
Sources:
Florentine merchants in the age of the Medici; letters and documents from the Selfridge collection of Medici manuscripts, edited by Gertrude Randolph Bramlette Richards. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1932.)