What's in a Name? A Survey of Roman Onomastic Practice from c. 700 B.C. to A.D. 700 Author(s): Benet Salway Source: The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 84 (1994), pp. 124-145 Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/300873 . Accessed: 27/10/2011 00:39 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Roman Studies. http://www.jstor.org WHAT'S IN A NAME? A SURVEY OF ROMAN ONOMASTIC PRACTICE FROM c. 700 B.C. to A.D. 700* By BENET SALWAY INTRODUCTION Perusal of over a thousand years of the fasti of the Romans' eponymous magistracy is sufficient to demonstrate that Roman onomastic practice did not stand still. Why, then, is there a tendency to see the system of three names (tria nomina, i.e. praenomen, nomen gentilicium, and cognomen) as the perfection and culmination of the Roman naming system rather than as a transitory stage in an evolutionary process? The simple answer is probably that usage of the tria nomina happens to be typical of the best documented class in one of the best documented, and certainly most studied, eras of Roman history - the late Republic and early Empire.