Feminine Names from 15-Century Bologna (Italy)

Feminine Names from 15th-Century Bologna (Italy)

by Gigi Coulson (Magnifica Gianna Maddalena Alberti/ Giata Magdalena Alberti)

These names are taken from the 1401 Registro della bollatura delle veste from the Comune of Bologna published in Belle vesti, dure leggi (2003) edited by Maria Giuseppina Muzarelli. The Registro was a list of clothing items that were declared to the record-keeper at a Parish location so that the item could be grandfathered in and not fined by the new sumptuary laws. Once the item was recorded it received a bollatura, a label or seal to affix on the inside. The records are numbered and list the woman's title, her given name, and in most cases both the husband's or father's given name and surname in lieu of her family name (e.g. Domina Iacoba uxor Baldesarre de Bove). The names and titles are written in Latinized Italian specific to the Bologna city-state. A description of the garment being declared is also included, but is not translated in this name article.

The names reflect trends typical of the Emiliano and Bolognese dialects spoken in and around Bologna. Names that in modern Italian would start with Gi- often start with Z- because the sound for the Bolognese in their dialect would be the same sharper, softer Zh-. For example, Zanna is a form of Gianna, which is a nickname for Giovanna. You'll also notice the use of x for s, perhaps because of the softer sound their dialect has for x. Names marked with an asterisk (*) are shown as recorded and are likely a Latin grammatical ending of -e that would correspond to an ending in -a if the person was the subject of the sentence.

Alphabetical Order (Duplicates indicated by number in parentheses)

Adala	Chaterina (8)	Isota	Paresina
Adola	Christina	Lena (2)	Selvagia
Andriucia	Cilla (2)	Lippa	Sibilla
Anna	Clara (2)	Lixaphile*	Sibille*
Anthonia	Donina (3)	Lixia	Thomasia
Antonia (7)	Doratea (2)	Lucia (7)	Thonie*
Bartholomea (7)	Elena (2)	Lutia (4)	Ursina
Bartholutia	Elixia	Madalena	Ursolina
Belda	Fixia (3)	Malgarita (2)	Yxabetta
Bertolucia	Francisca (6)	Manotie*	Zanna (4)
Biatrixia	Francischa	Margarita (3)
Billia	Francisscha (2)	Masina (2)
Bitina	Gexia (3)	Mathea (2)
Bitisia	Guasparina	Miate*
Bona	Gunda	Migliore*
Camilla	Honesta	Mina
Casandre*	Iacoba (10)	Nicoloxa
Caterina (2)	Iohanna (2)	Oliana

Frequency Order (Duplicates indicated by number in parentheses)

Antonia (7)

Bartholomea (7)

Caterina (2)

Chaterina (8)

Cilla (2)

Clara (2)

Doratea (2)

Donina (3)

Elena (2)

Fixia (3)

Francisca (6)

Francisscha (2)

Gexia (3)

Iacoba (9)

Iohanna (2)

Lucia (7)

Lena (2)

Lippa (2)

Lutia (3)

Malgarita (2)

Margarita (3)

Masina (2)

Mathea (2)

Zanna (4)

Andriucia

Adola

Adala

Anthonia

Anna

Billia

Biatrixia

Bitina

Bartholutia

Belda

Bertolucia

Bitisia

Bona

Camilla

Casandre

Christina

Elixia

Francischa

Gunda

Guasparina

Honesta

Iacoba

Isota

Lixia

Lixaphil

Madalena

Manotia

Miate

Migliore

Mina

Nicoloxa

Oliana

Paresina

Selvagia

Sibilla

Sibille

Thomasia

Thonie

Ursina

Ursolina

Yxabetta

Recorded Order (Duplicates indicated by number in parentheses)