A few surnames are used in the Byzantine and early Norman era, for men only:60 Leo Kephalas [33.E], John Pankitzes [32.I], Michael Korkouas [154.A]. These early surnames belong to residents of the southernmost part of the region who enjoyed an elevated social level as bishop,61 priest, and church builder. The Kephalas family produced the emperor Basil I and were benefactors of Mount Athos.62 The Korkouas were notaries in Taranto whose relatives held high office in Constantinople.63 The mere fact of having a surname in the eleventh century underscores the individual’s high social status, as such names begin to appear in significant numbers only in the thirteenth century.64
Two of the early named individuals reveal information about their geographic origins, albeit not in the form of a surname. Michael “the African” must have traced his roots to North Africa [154.A];65 Michael Korkouas “of Corone” hailed from Messenia in the Peloponnese. Additional inhabitants of the Peloponnese were transferred to Byzantine Longobardia under Leo VI,66 and connections between southern Greece and southern Italy are also evidenced by imported ceramics.67
Christian Names, Twelfth to Fourteenth Centuries
A great increase in the variety of men’s first names and the quantity of surnames occurs in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. Not only does the name stock more than triple, but the number of attestations of many popular names multiplies noticeably: Agnus [58.B], Antony [143.E, 157.A], Asotes (of Armenian origin) [111], Azzolinus de Nestore [78.A], Bailardus [21.A, 78.C], Bartholomew [22.F], Basil [104, 153.A], Bastianus (Sebastian) [94.C], Benedict [109.A, 143.B], Bisardus [78.C], Blasius [94.E], Bosos [44.A], Calogerius [92.A], Ceccarius [66.C], Constantine [158], Cosmas [144], Cyriakus [4], Cyril [61.A], Daniel [54, 109.A], Demetrios [43.A], Dionysos [143.E], Dominic [51], Dominic de Juliano [39], Donadeus [4, 35], Dymenos [107], Espeditos [94.M], Formosus [57], Gaycierius [28.T], George [4, 24.B, 37, 55, 110, 157.G], George Longo [4], Giraldus [140.D, 144], Godfredus [57], Gosfridus [78.C], Grisius [69.A], Guarino Montefusco [48], Guidonis [21.C], Hugh [2], Iacobinus [27.A], Iaquintus [94.B, 116.A–B], Ioannikios [144], James [110], James Pipinos [80.B], John [1, 4 (x2), 36, 38, 65.A, 66.I, 76.A, 87.A, 93.B, 94.K, 96, 114.B, 141, 143.A, 143.E], John de Andrea [26.A], John Crispulus [76.A], Jonathan [86.C–D, F–G], Laurence [157.G], Laurence Vetanus [79.A], Leo [66.F, 73.B, 88.A, 94.J],Leonard [91.A], Luke [144], Magerius [93.A], Magi—os [49],Maraldus [142.A], Mari [31], Mark [66.A], Matthew [22.F, 79.C], Ma(tthias?) [95], Michael [94.K], N—Melitinos [1], Nicholas [1, 43.A, 45.A, 73.B, 79.C, 87.A, 94.A, 108.A, 161], Nicholas Castaldo [26.C], Nicholas de Marra [28.W], Nicholas Ferriaci [156.A],Nicholas Markiantos [36], Nicholas Palia [23.B], Pantoleon/Pantaleon [49, 86.C–D, 105], Paul [30], Peregrinus/Pellegrinus [36, 114.F],68 Peter [21.C, 66.H, 94.I, 117.A], Peter Stea [94.F], Petroius [140.C], Pigonatios [45.A], Raimondo del Balzo [48], Radelchis [66.D], Richard [144], Rinaldus [28.A], Roger [21.B (a ruler), 38], Roger Moraville [82], Rosemannus [140.B], Sarulus [75.A, 76.C], Senatoros [64.A], Souré [43.A], Stephen [143.D, 155.A],Symeon [114.C–D], Tancred [58.A–B], Taphouros [114.C], Theodore [22.E, 46], Ursus [66.H], and Vitalius Ferriaci [156.A].
Compared to the earlier (Byzantine) period, almost three times as many women’s names from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries are preserved: Donna [Plate 18], Doulitzia [157.A], Eulalia [138.A], Gemma [4], Ioanna (or Jeanne) [157.A], Isabella [48], Kalia [157.C], Marciana [74.A], Margaret [157.I], Maria [137, 157.A], Rogaie [82], and Theokari [107]. There are Christian (and also Jewish) examples of men providing a tombstone for a dead wife and omitting her name while including their own [26.C, 121]; as in the earlier period, elision of the wife’s name is very frequent in family supplications.
There are about six times more Christian names, both male and female, for the later medieval period than for the earlier centuries because of the larger number of later monuments and their greater likelihood of preservation. The average number of inscriptions per monument is slightly larger in the early period; there are four sites with a large number of texts that signal multiple patrons, multiple identities inscribed within a single cult space.69 All of these inscriptions are in Greek, a fact that merits discussion in the following chapter. In the later period, more sites attracted multiple patrons or visitors.70 A record of multiple individuals at a single site in the ninth to eleventh centuries gives way in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries to fewer individuals, or just one, attested by name in a given monument or site. Even if the specific numbers should prove to be skewed, it seems fair to say that in all periods the percentage of inscriptions that contain a personal name is very high. In at least three cases out of four in my data set, including a name or names was a motive—perhaps the most important one—for composing an inscription or graffito.
The most popular given names for men in the twelfth- to fourteenth-century inscriptions and graffiti are John (attested 18 times), Nicholas (14 or 15), George (7), Peter (5), Leo (4), and Pantaleon (3). John remains the most popular name, catching up in the visual sources to the “supremacy” he enjoyed earlier in all sources. Nicholas has also risen in the standings, as prefigured in the documentary sources, while Leo has declined, and Michael and Constantine have dropped out of onomastic competition. George has a sudden surge, as does Peter, and Stephen and Pantaleon to a lesser degree.71 Using a larger range of written sources for a smaller geographical area, Jacob found that John and Nicholas were the most popular names in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,72 followed by George, Leo, and Peter.73 He identified many more names in fourteenth- and early fifteenth-century sources; these continue to show a strong regional preference for John and Nicholas, followed now by Peter, Stephen, and George, with Leo far behind. Ecclesiastical tax records indicate that Nicholas was the name most commonly held by clerics in Apulia, Lucania (Basilicata), and Calabria in the early fourteenth century, followed by John and Peter,74 but the visual sources identify only one priest named Nicholas [108.A].
The later medieval period witnessed the introduction of many names not found in the earlier visual sources. Some of these are Germanic, Norman, or Breton names previously unknown in the region (Bailardus, Bosus, Formosus, Giraldus, Godfredus, Gosfridus, Guidonis, Hugh, Leonard, Magerius, Maraldus, Pellegrinus, Radelchis, Richard, Rinaldus, Roger, Sarulus, Ursus).75 Petrus (Peter) also arrives, probably with the Normans, but his popularity is attested more in written sources and hagiotoponyms than in dedications and epitaphs.76 In the fourteenth century, a new stock of personal names was introduced throughout Europe in conjunction with the spread of the mendicant orders. These new names permeate the written sources before they appear in the visual record; Francis, for example, is not found in public inscriptions in the Salento before 1432 [47.D].77 Antony is inscribed in a graffito at Taranto