Search documents by the name strings derived from the sources, which often supply patronymics for one or more generations. In the indices, the names are given in modern Italian and normalized with regard to spelling variations, for example: Leonardo for Lionardo, Frosino for Fruosino.

Where a proper name was lacking, terms indicating family or hereditary relationships attached to another name - son, grandchild, nephew, uncle, wife, widow, heirs, etc. - have been treated as names of persons.

The adherence to the usage encounted in the original documents endows the indices of names with exceptional usefulness and power for prosopographical research, but requires awareness of early and irregular forms. Two famous examples may serve to illustrate the point: the supervisor of the cupola, Filippo Brunelleschi, never appears in the name indices of the digital archive with this surname, assigned to him only in a later period, but as "Filippo di ser Brunellesco" or simply as "Pippo" or, rarely, with his true last name "Lippi". His colleague in this role, Lorenzo Ghiberti, did not employ this surname in the period covered by the project, but was called "Lorenzo (or "Nencio") di Bartolo" (or "Bartoluccio"), referring to the name of his natural father.