Names from Sixteenth Century Venice

by Juliana de Luna (Julia Smith)

© 2008 Juliana de Luna; all rights reserved
last updated 25Feb09

While researching Italian names, I came across a book with remarkable information about names of women in the 50 years before 1600. The book Working Women of Early Modern Venice (by Monica Chojnacka, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) discusses the experience of hundreds of women and men related to them, from census and tax records, wills, and records of trials in the Inquisition.

A variety of names are found here, though certain names (like Caterina) are used by many women. The data, however, are not organized in a way that allows any discussion of the frequency of various names, nor a systematic treatment of construction. However, some notes can be made.

Given names

The vast majority of individuals have single given names and a single byname. Most given names are the names of Christian saints, but others are Latin in origin, while a few are standard vernacular words. Diminutives are relatively common. For women, diminutives are formed by adding -ina or -etta to the name after dropping the final vowel; for men, diminutives are formed by adding -ello or -etto to the name after dropping the final vowel. The forms -ella and -ino are found in other Italian data, and so seem not implausible for sixteenth century Venice.

Some of the names are distinctly Venetian in form, with z taking the place of a soft g: Zuan instead of Giani, Anzola instead of Angela. The letter j is also found in this location, perhaps reflecting outside influences: Julia and Jacomina in addition to Giulia and Iacomina. In addition, many of the men's names drop the final -o, as in Agustin, Bastian, and Valentin.

There are no clear examples of double given names for women (though the woman labeled as Maria Poselina may be an example). There are a handful of compound and double given names for men, including Giovanni Battista in various forms and Marcantonio. Examples of double given names occur with Pier and Zuan (a form of John) in the initial position.

Bynames

The bynames here are mixed, with some literal bynames and others inherited family names. There are several types, including patronymic, locative, occupational, and descriptive bynames. Patronymic bynames are the most common. They take two forms: literal patronymic bynames formed with di or de followed by the father's name, like di Zorzi and de Bastian; and family name structures formed with -i (which may represent either a nominative plural or a genitive singular Latinized form), like Ludovici and Mafei. In addition, there are some unmarked patronyms (like Marcello), and others with the final ending dropped (like Orsin).

Locative bynames are the second most common. They take two forms: the first are formed with da followed by the placename, like da Mosto or da Spin (where the o has been dropped from the placename Spino); the second are formed as adjectives of place, either literal, like Trivisana, or Pisani (which takes the family name form).

Other kinds of bynames are relatively rare, but are frequently used to describe people. Occupational bynames generally agree in gender with the person, though some do not. Examples include Molino; many more are used in descriptions of witnesses in trials, like fornera (baker) and herbardina (herb-seller). Possible descriptive bynames are Malatesta and Verde, though both may also be unmarked patronyms.

There are in this data no examples of people with two bynames. This may reflect the relatively low social status of many of the women discussed (the most common occupation for women discussed here is prostitute), but many wealthy women and men are discussed, and they too have only a single byname.

Names of Venetian Women Recorded Before 1600 (with variants and diminutives indented below the root form)

Agnese Giustina Paola
Alba Gratiosa    Paula
Alessandra Hortensa    Paulina
Anastasia Iacoma    Paolina
Andriana    Jacomina Pasqueta
Angela Isabella Pelegrina
Anna Isabetta Perina
Antonia Iseppa Philippa
Anzola Justina Pollonia
Barbara Laura    Polonia
Bella Leandra Portia
Benetta Leonarda Prudentia
Benvegnuda Libera Pulisena
Betta Livia    Pulissena
Borthola Lodovica Regina
Camilla Lucia Rosa
Cassandra    Lucieta Samaritana
Caterina Lucrezia Santina
   Catarina    Lugretia Simona
   Cattarina    Lugrezia    Simonetta
   Catterina Maddalena Stella
Cecilia    Madalena Susanna
Chiara Marcella Tomasina
Christina Margarita Valentina
   Cristina    Margherita Vendramina
Clara Maria Veneranda
Cornelia    Marieta Veniera
Corona    Marietta Veronica
Daniela    Marina Vincenza
Diana    Marita Viena
Elena Matthia    Vienna
   Helena Menega Violante
Elisabetta    Meneghina Virginia
Emilia Moderata Vittoria
Faustina Nicolosa Zuanna
Felicita Olivia    Zanetta
Fiametta Orelia    Zaneta
Fiordelise Orsa
Franceschina    Orseta
Giulia    Orsetta
   Julia Osana

Names of Venetian Women Recorded Between 1600 and 1650 (and the first date each name was recorded if available)

Agnesina1625 Fiorenza1612?
Angelica1615 Gabriella1607
Antea1607 Gaspara
Bettina Helia
Bianca Lavinia
Chiaretta1615 Oliva1625
Claudia1629 Orsolina1620
Contarina Sabina1618-26
Dionora1608 Thomasina1618-26
Eugenia1607 Valeria1625
Filomena

Names of Foreign Women in Venice

Dorothia(foreigner, Croatia)before 1600
Sofia(foreigner, Greece)before 1600
Todara(foreigner, name may be Italian or Greek)before 1600
Agatia(foreigner, Crete)1617

Names of Venetian Men Recorded Before 1600

Agustin Filippo Paolo
   Austin Francesco    Paulo
Alvise Galeazzo PierAntonio
Ambroso Giovanni Battista Petro
Andrea    Giovanbattista Rocco
Angelo    Giambattista Salvador
Annibale Giovanni Stefano
Antonio Giulio Teodor
Anzolo    Iulio Tommaso
Aurelio Guglielmo Valentin
Baldissere Hieronimo Valerio
Bartholomio Iacomo Ventura
Bastiano    Giacomo    Venturo
   Bastian    Jacomo Vincenzo
Battista    Jacopo Vittorio
   Batista Ippolito Zacharia
Benedetto Iseppo Zago
   Benetto Lodovico Zordan
Bernardin Lorenzo Zorzi
Biasio Luca Zuan
Bortolo Lundardo    Zuane
   Bortholo Magno    Zuanne
Carlo Marcantonio    Zanetto
Claudio Marco Zuan'Antonio
Cristofolo    Marcello Zuandomenego
Dionisio Miro ZuanGiacomo
Domenico Nicolo
   Domenego

Names of Venetian Men Recorded Between 1600 and 1650 (and the first date each name was recorded)

Alexander1618-26 Mercurio1608
Aloysius1618-26 Pasqualin1625
Ambrogio1620 Piero1610
   Ambrosius1618-26 Raffaele1620
Bernardo1618-26 Rugir1600
Camillus1610-17 Salvator1625
Gabriele1620 Tobias1620
Gasparo1618-26 Tomaso1626
Gieronimo1617 Tranquilo1620
Girolamo1625 Vivian1620
Lazaro1620 Zuann1625
Martin

Some examples of complete names from this data

Alvise Bragadin Iseppo da Canal
Alvise Zorzi Iulio Preguerra
Andrea Gradenigo Laura Alioni
Andrea Marcello Laura Badoer
Andriana Contarini Laura di Mazi
Andriana Ludovici Laura Gritti
Angela dal Zio Leonarda Tron
Angela Friuli Libera di Rossi
Annibale Bonbiolo Livia Mafei
Antonio Querini Lodovica di Mannoni
Anzola di Zorzi Marcantonio Bon
Anzola Verde Marcella Lippomano
Anzola Zanotta Marco Morosini
Baldissere Balbi Maria da Guda
Bartholomio Capello Maria da Spin
Bentto Tiepolo Maria Pola
Caterina Bergamasca Maria Poselina
Caterina Zambellotto Orsa di Zanchi
Catterina Bergamasca Orsetta Garzolo
Chiara Duodo Orsetta Gyuran
Cristina Collari Paula Cavazza
Dianora de Gilioli Paulina Capodevin (wine merchant's daughter?)
Domenico Bonaro Paulina de Viscardi
Elena de Pietro Paulo dalla Corona
Elisabetta de Bossi PierAntonio Orsin
Felicita Molino Pietro Secco
Franceschina dal Dedo Prudentia Calafado
Franceschina Tuviani Pulissena Tiepolo
Francesco Cavanei Rigina da Mosto
Francesco Molin Rocco de Benetto
Francesco Tirabosco Salvador de Gradi
Galeazzo Malatesta Samaritana Briani
Giambattista Bollani Stefano Tagiapietra
Giulia Pisani Stefano Viaro
Giulia Vignona Vicenza Boscolon
Giulio Vignon Vittorio Trasontin
Helena Bertucci Zuan Nadal
Hieronimo Venier Zuane de Bastian
Isabella Badoera Zuane Rizzo
Isabella Vendramin Zuanne Contarini
Isabetta Trivisana (from Trevino)

Some occupations found in this data (that were not found as bynames):

Strazzaruola (second hand clothes dealer)
Linaruola (linen maker)
Fornera (baker)
Fruttaruola (fruit vendor)
Spiciera (spice vendor)
Barcaruola (boatwoman)
Zavatera (cobbler)
Cassellera (cobbler)
Vellera (sail maker)
Meretrice (prostitute)
Albergatrice (innkeeper)
Furlana (laundress)
Herbardina (herb seller)