In the naming convention of ancient Rome the archetypical name of a male citizen consisted of three parts (tria nomina): praenomen (given name), nomen gentile or gentilicium (name of the gens or clan) and cognomen (name of a family line within the gens). Sometimes a second or third cognomen, called agnomen, was added. This system was derived from the Etruscan civilization.

Females were officially known by the feminine form of their father's nomen gentile, followed by the genitive case of their father's cognomen (husband's if married), and an indication of order among sisters. By the late Roman Republic, women sometimes also adopted the feminine of their father's cognomen.

History

In the early regal period of Rome, it appears that people were at first referred to by one name. As Rome grew in area and population, a second, family name came into use. By the earliest days of the Republic, every member of a household had at least two names -- praenomen, and the genitive form of the pater familias, which was a fixed and inherited nomen.

This binomial nomenclature was unique among Indo-European languages of that era. Also, the core part of the name (nomen) was the inherited gens name, not the given name (praenomen). This is probably why so few different praenomina were used.

Later in the Republic a cognomen was added to distinguish families within a gens, as the importance of the gens grew and the size of voting tribes required this differentiation. Thus patricians (nobility) commonly had three names (Tria Nomina). Although this system dates to the later 5th century BC, it was slow to take root, as it does not appear in official documents until the late 2nd century BC and was not common until the time of Sulla, right before the Empire. It was adopted even more slowly by non-patricians; the first examples of cognomina for plebeians date to c. 125 BC and it was not popular for another century.

In the Byzantine Empire (the Eastern Empire), old Roman language, culture and names were gradually replaced by Greek ones.

Praenomen

The praenomen (literally forename) was the only name in which parents had some choice, roughly equivalent to the given name of today. It was a personal appellation given to an infant on their day of lustration. As a rule only the immediate family would call a person by his praenomen. Compared to most cultures, Romans used very few different praenomina: the common praenomina were fewer than 40, and about 18 in the late Republic. Some gentes used only a few of these praenomina, and some of the praenomina in turn were used only in one gens. The Cornelii, for example, rarely named their sons anything other than Gnaeus, Lucius, and Publius. The pater familias often named infants after himself, in masculine or feminine form (Lucius, Lucia). Most praenomina are masculine o-stem (nominative in -us) or feminine a-stem nouns.

A study of praenomina found in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum shows that the seventeen most common male praenomina accounted for 98% of all male roman names. The most popular, Lucius, Gaius, and Marcus, constituted 59% of the total. In the 3rd century the nomen gentilicium Aurelius became one of the most popular praenomina after the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Caracalla) granted universal Roman citizenship to all freeborn subjects throughout the Empire as new citizens adopted the name of their emperor in gratitude.

Senatorial decrees outlawing certain families from using certain praenomina was a Roman tradition. Livy relates how in the 4th century BCE Marcus Manlius Capitolinus was tried and condemned for treason. It was decreed that no member of the Manlia gens might thereafter bear the praenomen of "Marcus" which none did until the 1st century CE.

Many of the praenomina used by male citizens were abbreviated to one or two characters in writing or inscriptions; the more common abbreviations include: Appius (Ap.), Aulus (A.), Flavius (Fl.), Gaius (C.), Gnaeus (Cn.), Decimus (D.) Lucius (L.), Manius (M'.), Marcus (M.), Publius (P.), Quintus (Q.) Servius (Ser.), Sextus (Sex.), Spurius (Sp.), Titus (T.), Tiberius (Ti.). The names Primus, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus, Octavius, Nonius, and Decimus mean, respectively, 'first', 'second', 'third', 'fourth', 'fifth', 'sixth', 'seventh', 'eighth', 'ninth', and 'tenth', and were originally given to first, second, third, etc. sons in birth order. There are, however, abundant examples of this birth-number significance being later lost: Sextus Pompeius, for instance, was not a sixth son. A possible explanation for this is that the numerical praenomen came instead to stand for the number of the month in which the person was born . Another explanation is that eventually parents thought the names were euphonic, and names such as Decimus no longer had to be the tenth child or born in December, and had become common names.

Nomen gentile or Gentilicium

See also:

The second name, or nomen gentile, is the name of the gens (the family clan), in masculine form for men. The original gentes were descended from the family groups that settled Rome. These eventually developed into entire clans, which covered specific geographic regions. As the area of Rome expanded the number of tribes also expanded, so that not all tribes were from original settlers. Some were named for Etruscan families, while others were from local tribes or from major geographical features, such as rivers. Well-known nomina include many of the familiar names of ancient Rome, such as Aemilius, Claudius, Cornelius, Domitius, Julius, Pompeius, Antonius and Valerius.

Cognomen

See also:

The third name, or cognomen, began as a nickname or personal name that distinguished individuals within a gens. Cognomina do not appear in official documents until around 100 BC. During the Roman Republic and Empire, the cognomen is inherited from father to son, serving to distinguish a family within a gens. Often the cognomen was chosen based on some physical or personality trait, sometimes with ironic results: Julius Caesar's cognomen meant hairy (cf. etymology of the name of Julius Caesar) although he was balding, and Tacitus's cognomen meant silent, while he was a well-known orator.

Agnomen

In ancient Rome, agnomina are appended to the praenomen/nomen/cognomen sequence after birth, typically based on some personal characteristic or accomplishment. Pseudo-Probus uses the hero of the Punic Wars, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, as an example:

propria hominum nomina in quattuor species dividuntur, praenomen nomen cognomen agnomen: praenomen, ut puta Publius, nomen Cornelius, cognomen Scipio, agnomen Africanus.

"Men's personal names are of four types, praenomen, nomen, cognomen and agnomen: For praenomen think of Publius, for nomen Cornelius, for cognomen Scipio and for agnomen Africanus."

Marius Victorinus further elucidates:

Iam agnomen extrinsecus venit, et venit tribus modis, aut ex animo aut ex corpore aut ex fortuna: ex animo, sicut Superbus et Pius, ex corpore, sicut Crassus et Pulcher, ex fortuna, sicut Africanus et Creticus.

"Now the agnomen comes from outside, and in three styles, from personality or physique or achievements: From personality, such as Superbus ["Haughty"] and Pius [displaying the Roman syndrome of virtues including honesty, reverence to the gods, devotion to family and state, etc.], from physique, such as Crassus ["Fatty"] and Pulcher ["Handsome"], or from achievements, such as Africanus and Creticus [from their victories in Africa and on Crete]."

As a minimum, a Roman agnomen is a name attached to an individual's full titulature after birth and formal naming by the family. True Roman nicknames, fully replacing the individual's name in usage, are rare. An example is Caligula, which was used in place of, and not along with, his full name, which was Gaius Iulius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Caligula's praenomen was Gaius, his nomen Iulius, his cognomen Caesar. Some agnomina were inherited like the cognomen, thus establishing a sub-family. Some examples are found in List of Imperial Roman victory titles. Augustus and Germanicus are originally agnomina, though they tended to get handed down as additional cognomina.

Priscian states that names adapted from the gentile names (nomina) are agnomina and he specifically cites Claudianus and Aemilianus exempli gratia. If this view is accepted, then Augustus' name is a full set like that of Africanus: Gaius Iulius Caesar Octauianus.

Adoption

Adoption in Rome was common since most families had few children. When a man was adopted into another family, his name would become the adopted father's full name, plus a cognomen identifying his birth family. Examples from Roman history:

• Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus, the biological son of Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, adopted into the family Cornelius Scipio.
• Mamercus Aemilius Lepidus Livianus (Princeps senatus, 1st century BC), born as the son of a Livius, adopted into Aemilii Lepidi.

Foreign names

As Rome conquered territories beyond the Italian peninsula, many foreign names were introduced. Discharged auxiliary soldiers and others gaining Roman Citizenship could, and many did, continue to use at least a portion of their former names. A number of the names below are of Greek origin, while others came from regions that were brought under Roman influence. Non-citizen auxiliary soldiers who were granted citizenship often adopted the nomen gentile of their Emperor, adding their native name as a cognomen.

Female names

There is written evidence that in the earliest period, praenomina had female versions and that women's names presumably consisted of a praenomen and nomen gentile, followed by filiation.

But by the time of the historically attested Republic, women no longer normally had praenomina. Instead, they were officially known only by the feminine form of their father's nomen gentile so that daughters were all named with the same feminine version of the family nomen. If further description was needed, the name was followed by the genitive case of her father's cognomen or, after marriage, of her husband's. Hence, Cicero speaks of a woman as Annia P. Anni senatoris filia (Annia the daughter of P. Annius the senator).

If only two daughters survived, they could be distinguished as major and minor. Marcus Antonius's daughters were Antonia major (grandmother of the emperor Nero) and Antonia minor (mother of the emperor Claudius). If a family had more than two daughters, they were distinguished by ordinal numbers: Cornelia Quinta, the fifth daughter of a Cornelius.

By the late Republic, women also adopted the feminine form of their father's cognomen (e.g., Caecilia Metella Crassi, daughter of Q. Caecilius Metellus and wife of P. Licinius Crassus). This feminized cognomen was often made a diminutive (e.g. Augustus's wife Livia Drusilla was the daughter of a M. Livius Drusus).

There are some examples where a woman took her mother's name: Arria was a daughter of Thrasea Paetus and his wife Arria (Tac. Ann. 16, 34; Pliny Ep. 3, 6, 10; 7, 19, 3); and possibly Considia, daughter of Servilius Nonianus (Pliny NH 24, 43), based on an assumption by Syme (Syme; 1964a:412f).

Additional elements and examples

Filiation

In earlier Roman names, the praenomen and nomen gentile constituted a Roman's full name and were followed by the so-called filiation (a patronymic or indication of paternity). The filiation (patronimicus) consisted of the Latin word for "son" filius (abbreviated by the letter f.) preceded by the abbreviation of the father's praenomen, which was understood in the genitive. Hence, a Roman might have been known as M. Antonius M. f. (Marci filius), that is, Marcus Antonius, son of Marcus. Additionally it could also indicate the grandfather with the word "grandson" nepos (abbreviated by the letter n.).

By the Middle Republic, the abbreviation for tribe in which the man was enrolled was added after his filiation. When this became an official part of the name is not known.

Tribes

A tribe was a geographic distinction, not an indication of ancestry. A man belonged to the tribe in which his main residence was located. The tribe was an essential part of citizenship, since voting was often carried out by tribe. With the expansion of the Empire, the number of tribes also grew. See list of Roman tribes.

Sample analysis of a complete name

Analysis of an example complete name: Marcus Aurelius Marci f. Quinti n. tribu Galeria Antoninus Pius, domo Caesaraugusta.

• praenomen: Marcus
• nomen gentile: Aurelius (he belongs to gens Aurelia, the Aurelii in plural)
• patronimicus: son of Marcus
• grandparent: grandson of Quintus
• tribe: Galeria (a tribe from the region of Caesaraugusta in Hispania)
• cognomen: Antoninus (family of the Antonini)
• agnomen: Pius (probably because of his piety... Rarely inherited)
• city: Caesaraugusta (ancient Saragossa or Zaragoza in Hispania)

In everyday use, people were referred to by their cognomen, or praenomen plus nomen gentile. So, "Marcus Livius Drusus" would either be just "Drusus" or "Marcus Livius". "Iulia Marciana" would be just "Iulia". This has created problems for modern scholars, since in many cases we no longer have the contemporaneous context to know which person was actually meant.

Evolution of a personal name

In Ancient Rome, a person's name was not static but often evolved with his status or social connections. Here is the evolution of the official name of the first emperor, Augustus:

63 BC: Augustus is born

• C·OCTAVIVS·C·F·
• Gaius Octauius Gaii filius
• Gaius of the gens Octavius, son of Gaius

44 BC: Julius Caesar dies. In his will he adopts Gaius Octavius. See Adoption in Rome.

• C·IVLIVS·C·F·CAESAR·OCTAVIANVS
• Gaius Iulius Gaii filius Caesar Octauianus
• Gaius Caesar of the gens Julius, son of Gaius, originally of the gens Octavius

42 BC: Julius Caesar is deified, prompting a change in Augustus' name.

• C·IVLIVS·DIVI·F·CAESAR·OCTAVIANVS
• Gaius Iulius Diui filius Caesar Octauianus
• Gaius Caesar of the gens Julius, son of the Deified, originally of the gens Octavius

31 BC: Augustus is declared imperator by the army

• IMP·C·IVLIVS·DIVI·F·CAESAR·OCTAVIANVS
• Imperator Gaius Iulius Diui filius Caesar Octauianus
• Imperator Gaius Caesar of the gens Julius, son of the Deified, originally of the gens Octavius

27 BC: The Roman Senate grants the title Augustus. Augustus assumes his official regnal name.

• IMP·CAESAR·DIVI·F·AVGUSTVS
• Imperator Caesar Diui filius Augustus
• Imperator Caesar the August, son of the Deified

See also

• Roman victory title
• List of Roman nomina
• List of Roman cognomina
• List of Imperial Roman victory titles
• List of Roman tribes
• List of Roman female names
• Roman Republic
• Roman Empire

References

• http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/roman_names.html
• http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/roman/
• http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/rom-anci.php (List of Roman Derived Names)
• http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Choosing_a_Roman_name
• Cambridge Latin Course, University of Cambridge Press 2004, ISBN 0-521-78230-9
• Liberati, Anna Maria and Bourbon, Fabio (2005), Barnes and Noble Press, ISBN 0-7607-6234-1

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