Considerably seriously. Nostramame was originally into medicine, but when he moved to Italy he Latinised his name to Nostradamus. Under this name he began to publish almanacs, which were rather popular amongst nobles and the ruling class. As silly as this sounds, him having a Latin sounding name actually did help him gain credibility, because in his time era, anything associated with Latin was considered scholarly. Many nobles even sent away for his almanacs, and his worls were rarely out of print after his death.