Fioravante

Meaning uncertain, perhaps from Floriven, the Old Occitan form of Floovant. This was the name of the eldest son of the king of France in I Reali di Francia by Andrea da Barberino (c. 1370-1431), an Italian prose compilation and adaptation of the Old French chansons de geste of the Matter of France concerning Charlemagne and Roland. He can be identified with the earlier French hero Floovant.

Folk etymology connects Fioravante and Floovant to Latin florem (nominative flos) meaning "flower" (source of Italian fiore and names such as Florent and Fiorente). Alternatively it has been suggested that Floovant derives from the Germanic name Chlodovech, perhaps via a patronymic *Chlodoving meaning "descendant of Chlodovech", referring to the 5th-century Frankish king Clovis I who founded the Merovingian dynasty; this theory may be supported by the fact that in the Frankish language the fricative consonant -ch- typically became -f-; for example, Clovis (Cloovis in Old French) was also known as Floovis in Merovingian texts.