Late Period Italian Women's Names: Venice

by Juliana de Luna (Julia Smith)

© 2011-2013 by Julia Smith. All rights reserved.
Version 1.1, updated 26 January 2013


Venice

These names are taken from the 15th and 16th century records of La Virgine; here nuns mostly kept their original names rather than changing them when they became nuns. Some women were recorded with just their given names. But most are recorded, at least in some contexts, with either a family name or with their father's name and a family name (in the form di <father's name> <family name>).

The names here reflect a few trends typical of the northern dialect spoken in Venice. Names that in modern Italian would start with Gi- or Ci- often start with Z-. Zaneta and Zuana are forms of Gianna, which is a variant of Giovanna. Similarly, Zilia is a form of Cecilia. Masculine names (and the family names derived from them) sometimes drop the final vowel that they would have in modern Italian: Constantin, Marin, and Bassadoar are examples of this.

 

 

Feminine Given Names from the 15th and 16th Centuries

 
Adriana / Adrianna
Agnese
Agnesina
Andriana
Angela / Anzola
Arcanzola
Aurelia
Bartolomea
Battista
Benedicta / Beneta
Bianca
Brisca / Brisscha
Caterina
Cecilia
Chataruza
Chiara
Clara
Cristina
Diana
Dianora
Elena / Helena
Elisabetta
Euphemia
Faustina
Foscarina / Foscharina
Francesca
Franceschina
Franchetta / Francheta
Gradeniga
Isabella*
Isabetta* / Ysabeta
Jacobella
Laura
Lauretta
Liona
Loredana
Lucia
Lucretia / Lucrezia
Maddalena
Madaluza
Margarita
Maria
Marieta / Marietta
Marina
Moresina / Maurocena
Olimpia
Orsa
Pantasilea
Paola / Paula
Pellegrina
Pisana
Quirina
Santa
Sofia
Sordamor
Ursa
Zaneta
Zuana
 
There is one example of a double given name: Maria Eletta.
 
* These are a few late period names not found in the La Virgine data, but in other similar accounts.
 

 

Some Earlier Feminine Given Names With Dates

 
Agnes1397
Agnese1340
Agnesina1349
Blanchac. 1200
Brigida1250s
Dorothea1230s
Erasma1230s
Euphemia1230s, 1295
Euphrosina1250s
Isabellac. 1200, also 16th c.
Isabeta1366(also found in the 16th c. as Isabetta)
Jacopina1295
Juniperac. 1200
Mari1205
Marina1370s
Martia1205
Nicholeta1135
Polixenamid 13th c.
Primiceria1177
Sicambriac. 1200
Techa1230s
Zaneta1366
Zenobia1250s
Zilia1247(a form, perhaps diminutive, of Cecilia)

 

 

Masculine Given Names

(relatives and those names found in patronyms, mostly from 1478-1503)
 
Alvise
Andrea
Angelo
Barenus
Benedetto
Bernardo
Cipriano
Constantin
Domenico
Francesco
Giorgio
Giovanni
Hyeronimo
Leonardo
Marco
Marin / Marino
Martino
Mathio
Niccolo
Piero
Vicenzo / Vincenzo
There is one example of a double given name: Giovanni Francesco
 

 

Family Names

 
Avonal
Badoer
Barbaro
Barozzi
Bascio
Bassadoar
Bellegno
Bembo
Benedetti
Bernardo
Boldu
Bon
Bondimier
Bonzi
Bragadin
Capello
Contarini
Corner
da Canal
da Chioza
da Molin
da Montefeltro
Dalle Boccole
Dandolo
di Prioli
Donato / Donado
Falier
Foscari
Foscarini
Frescobaldi
Garzoni
Ghezzo
Giustiniani
Gradenigo
Grimani
Lego/da Leze
Lignago
Lion
Longo
Loredan
Luppi
Malipiero
Marcello
Marin
Matelizi
Mauroceno
Memo
Michel / Michiel
Morosini
Mudazo
Orsini
Palmio
Pisani
Priuli
Querini
Riccoboni
Sanudo
Spizega
Tiepolo
Trevisan
Valier
Venier
Viari
Vitelli
Zane
Zani
Ziani
Zorzi
Zustignan


Descriptive Bynames

There are two literal descriptive bynames attached to existing family names:

la grande "the big"
la piccolo "the very little"


HTML editing by Mari ingen Briain meic Donnchada.

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