NAME YOURSELF LIKE A ROMAN

Choose Your Gender

0 Roman naming conventions differed for men and women, and the Romans didn’t conceive of other options or categories (at least for naming purposes!).

For viri (men):

Choose Your Praenomen (“first name”)

1 This is your personal name, just like modern American first names: Michael, Jonathan, Jason, etc. The Romans used a very limited number of first names and tended to be very conservative about them, reusing the same small number of names within families.

In the Roman Republic, your major options are: Some of these names (Quintus, Sextus, • Appius • Manius • Servius Septimus, etc.) clearly originally referred • Aulus • Marcus • Sextus to birth order: Fifth, Sixth, Seventh. Others are related to important aspects of • Decimus • Numerius • Spurius Roman culture: the name Marcus probably • Gaius • Postumus • Statius comes from the god Mars and Tiberius from the river Tiber. Other are mysterious. • Gnaeus • Publius • Tiberius But over time, these names lost their • Lucius • Quintus • Titus original significance and became hereditary, with sons named after their • Mamercus • Septimus • Vibius father or another male relative.

Choose Your Nomen (“family name”)

2 Your second name identifies you by gens: family or clan, much like our modern American last name. While praenomina vary between members of the same family, the nomen is consistent. Some famous nomina include Claudius, Cornelius, Fabius, Flavius, Julius, Junius, and Valerius. Side note: if an enslaved person was freed or a foreigner was granted citizenship, they were technically adopted into the family of their “patron,” and so received his nomen as well.

De Boer 2020 OPTIONAL: Choose Your Cognomen (“nickname”)

Many Romans had just a praenomen and a nomen, and it was customary and polite to address a 3 person by this combo (as in “hello, Marcus Tullius, how are you today?” “I am well, Gaius Julius, and you?”). But many Romans also received a cognomen, or “extra” name / nickname, that identified them according to their personal qualities, exploits, or some other feature. Some of these cognomina were attached just to the individual who earned them, but many became hereditary and were passed down within families. (Much as a last name like Fisher or Smith originally described an individual’s occupation but is now attached to an entire family.) The Romans also didn’t mind “stacking” cognomina, so an individual might wind up with two or more!

Personal Qualities Personal Exploits

• Barbatus (bearded) • Africanus (victor over Africa): given to Publius Cornelius Scipio, who defeated Hannibal and Carthage. • Bibulus (drunkard) • Coriolanus (victor over Coroli): given to Gaius Marcius for • Brutus (stupid, brutish) rallying troops to defeat the enemy and capture the • Caecus (blind) Volscian town Coroli.

• Calvus (bald) • Corvus (crow, raven): given to Marcus Valerius Maximus, who was (supposedly) aided in battle by a raven. • Celsus / Longus (tall) • Magnus (great): most notably, given (by himsef??) to • Crassus (fat) Gnaeus Pompeius, an accomplished general of the late • Flavus (blond) Republic (often called Pompey the Great).

• Gemellus (twin) • Regillensis (victorious at Regillus): given to Aulus Postumius Albus, who defeated the Latins at the battle of • Nasica / Naso (big-nosed) Lake Regillus. • Pulcher (handsome) • Torquatus (with a torque): given to Titus Manlius, who • Rufus (red-head) defeated a giant Gaul in single combat and took his torque (“necklace”) as a trophy. • Scaeva / Scaevola (left-handed) • Other examples include Asiaticus, Germanicus, • Strabo (squinty, cross-eyed) Macedonicus, etc.

OPTIONAL: Get Adopted

Adoption was a common practice among elite Romans: if a rich and/or noble man didn’t have a son 4 to succeed him, he would often adopt the “extra” son of a close relative. In this case, the child would take his adoptive father’s name, including the family nomen and any hereditary cognomina, but he would also receive an extra cognomen formed from the family name of his birth in order to indicate his origin. For example, when Caesar’s nephew Gaius Octavius was adopted into the Julian family after his uncle’s death, he became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus.

EXAMPLES: FULL ROMAN REPUBLICAN NAMES

PRAENOMEN NOMEN COGNOMEN / NOMINA ALSO KNOWN AS • Publius • Cornelius • Scipio Africanus • Scipio Africanus • Marcus • Tullius • Cicero • Cicero • Gnaeus • Pompeius • Magnus • Pompey the Great • Marcus • Antonius • (none) • Marc Antony • Quintus • Horatius • Flaccus • Horace For feminae (women):

You Don’t Get a Praenomen!

In the very earliest period, women had praenomina—many of which were the feminine forms of the 1 male praenomina (Appius —> Appia, Gnaeus —> Gnaea, Marcus —> Marcia, etc.). However, over the course of the Republican period, the Romans generally stopped giving women personal names.

You Do Get a Nomen!

Women were primarily known by the feminine form of their nomen, their family name. This means, of course, that all female members of a family had the same name: so the sisters and daughter of Gaius 2 Julius Caesar were all named Julia. If your father’s name is Appius Claudius Caecus, your name is Claudia. If it’s Marcus Valerius Messalla, your name is Valeria. If it’s Lucius Aemilius Paullus, your name is Aemilia. Et cetera.

You Might Get a Cognomen

As discussed above, cognomina often became hereditary and were used to differentiate between 3 branches of the same gens (or family). In this case, a woman might be known by the feminine forms of her father’s nomen AND cognomen. For example, the two daughters of Gaius Claudius Marcellus were both known as Claudia Marcella.

In a situation like this—two female relatives in the same family and hence with the same name—another nickname might be added to distinguish them. For example, the two Claudias were called Claudia Marcella Major (“elder”) and Claudia Marcella Minor (“younger”). Other options included adding numbers like Secunda (“Second”) or Tertia (“third”). Sometimes, the Romans modified a woman’s name to make it a pet name or “diminutive” (much as we often add -ie or -y: Katie, Billy, etc.). In this case, he Romans would add -illa or -ella to women’s names: for example, the empress Livia—final wife of Augustus and the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus—was known as Livia Drusilla.

Notice: women don’t receive cognomina based on their personal qualities or exploits—they inherit these names, like their nomina, from their father or family.

You Might Get Your Husband’s Name

Women kept their birth family’s name after marriage, but sometimes they were also known by the 4 possessive form of their husband’s name—rather as if Beyoncé were called Jay-Z’s Beyoncé or Meghan Markle were called Harry’s Meghan. This was another way of distinguishing women from the same family: for example, the famous tribune Publius Clodius had four sisters. The most famous of these was known by her husband’s name: Clodia Metelli (“wife of Metellus”). One of her sisters was known as Clodia Luculli (“wife of Lucullus”) after her husband.

De Boer 2020