It’s time for the yearly A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal! To see all the other theme reveals, click on the button above.
Because 13/14 September 2021 will be my love Dante’s 700th Jahrzeit (death anniversary), both of my blogs will have April A to Z themes inspired by this greatest of all Italian writers. My main blog will focus on places, people, literary works, and other things from Dante’s world, and my names blog will feature Medieval Tuscan and Medieval Italian names.
Tuscan is a dialect spoken by about 3,500,000 people, and in turn has at least eleven sub-dialects. Corsican, though now an independent language, originated as an offshoot of Medieval Tuscan.
Modern Standard Italian is based upon Tuscan, particularly the Florentine sub-dialect, since its use by Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Machiavelli, and politician and historian Francesco Guicciardini established it as a language of culture and prestige. It was also the official language of the Italian city-states and the Kingdom of Italy which replaced them upon unification and lasted till 1946.
Courtesy Fondo Antiguo de la Biblioteca de la Universidad de Sevilla
You’ll learn about names including:
Dimitillia
Guilelmo
Maffeo
Taudisca
Zuana
Veniera
Pulisena
Jacobella
Gualfredo
Berlinghiero
Albiza
Urso
Humiliana
Engelrada
Dolfin
Rizardo
Zilio
As always, I’ll use an equal number of female and male names each day (unless I can’t find enough), and alternate which sex the posts start with. Since the Italian language lacks certain letters, K, Q, W, X, and Y will be wildcard days. I already did general Medieval names a few years ago, but I’ll try to find ones I didn’t use for those letters to stay with the overall theme.
Onomastics Outside the Box 
That’s ture. There are many celebrations to be had here in Italy this year. It’s quite exciting, actually.
@JazzFeathers
The Old Shelter – Theme Reveal – The Great War
Sounds great! I’m looking forward to reading your posts!
My 2021 AtoZ Reveal
This is dangerous – you might have me reaching for The Divine Comedy to re-read after all these years! Will be fascinating to follow your theme, good luck!
What an interesting theme! I never learned Italian but I do speak Spanish and French, and I’m fascinated by different language versions of names across European languages, in general. I’m curious if I’ll recognise any names that also exist in the Scandinavian languages (where I have my roots). Good luck and enjoy!