The System of Roman Naming

PRAENOMEN

NOMEN

COGNOMEN

AGNOMEN

A(ulus)
Agrippa
AP(pius)
C(aeus)
CN(aeus)
D(ecimus)
Faustus
Hostus
Lar
K(aeso)
L(ucius)
M(arcus)
M' (=Manius)
MAM(ercus)
N(umerius)
Opiter
Paullus
Postumus
Proculus
P(ublius)
Q(uintus)
SEX(tus)
SER(vius
SP(urius)
T(itus)
TI(berius)
Vopiscus

AELIUS	PETRONIUS
AEMILIUS	PLAUTIUS
ANNIUS	POMPEIUS
ANTONIUS	POMPONIUS
AURELIUS	PLINIUS
CLAUDIUS	PONTIUS
CORNELIUS	QUINCTIUS
DOMITIUS	ROSCIUS
FABIUS	RUTILIUS
FLAVIUS	SALVIUS
FULVIUS	SENTIUS
HELVIUS	SEPTIMIUS
IULIUS	SULPICIUS
IUNIUS	TERENTIUS
LICINIUS	TULLIUS
LUCRETIUS	ENNIUS
MANILIUS	LIVIUS
MARCIUS	HORATIUS
MARIUS	VERGILIUS
NIGIDIUS	VALERIUS
NOVIUS	SALLUSTIUS
OCTAVIUS	OVIDIUS

etc.

ATTICUS
CAESAR
CICERO
CATO
CORBULO
CAUDEX
CRISPUS
COTTA
CATULLUS
CAECUS
CURIO
FELIX
FLACCUS
LONGINUS
MAXIMUS
MARCELLUS
MARTIALIS
NERO
PAULINUS
PERTINAX
PRIMUS
PRISCUS
PULCHER
SULLA
SCIPIO
SECUNDUS
RUFUS
VARUS

Britannicus
Macedonicus
Balearicus
Africanus
Asiaticus
Dalmaticus
Germanicus
Gothicus
Creticus
Parthicus

any nomen, dropping the
-ius and adding -ianus:

Octavianus
Domitianus
Aelianus
Aemilianus
Fabianus
Iulianus
Vergilianus
Valerianus

etc.

EXAMPLES:

Marcus

Tullius

Cicero

Caius

Iulius

Caesar

Cnaeus

Cornelius

Scipio

Africanus

Quintus

Fabius

Maximus

Cunctator

Publius

Vergilius

Maro

Caius

Iulius

Caesar

Octavianus

Titus

Pomponius

Atticus

Cnaeus

Pompeius

Magnus

TERMINOLOGY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
NAMES PRAENOMEN: personal name, given name; only parents, siblings, wife and very closest friends would use this name to the person's face; females had no praenomina. Note the appearance of numbers: Quintus, Sextus, Decimus. NOMEN: the 'clan' name, the indispensible part of a person's nomenclature. COGNOMEN: an 'additional' name, which distinguished branches of a clan from each other; the patrician Cornelii, for example, had at least eight cognomina. Many appear to be humorous, e.g. Cicero: 'chickpea'/'garbanzo'; Naso: 'the nose'; Caesar: 'hairy'; Caecus: 'blind'; Flaccus: 'fatty'. AGNOMEN: a 'supplementary' name, to distinguish further between branches, or sometimes to celebrate military conquest, or sometimes to indicate an adoption (by making the birth-family name into an adjective to follow the adopted-family name).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. J. Cadoux, "Names, personal," Oxford Classical Dictionary 2nd. edition (Oxford 1970) pp. 720-721. A.E. Gordon, Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University ofCalifornia, 1983) pp. 17-30. Ernst Fraenkel, "Die latinischen Personennamen," Pauly-Wissowa-Mittelhaus-Kroll, Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft 16:3 (1935), col. 1611 ff. I. Kajanto, Latin Cognomina (1965). V. J. Mathews, "Some Puns on Latin cognomina," Greece and Rome 20 (1973) 20-24. C. J. Smith, Roman Clan: The Gens from Ancient Ideology to Modern Anthropology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2006).

TERMINOLOGY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

NAMES

PRAENOMEN: personal name, given name; only parents, siblings, wife and very closest friends would use this name to the person's face; females had no praenomina. Note the appearance of numbers: Quintus, Sextus, Decimus.
NOMEN: the 'clan' name, the indispensible part of a person's nomenclature.
COGNOMEN: an 'additional' name, which distinguished branches of a clan from each other; the patrician Cornelii, for example, had at least eight cognomina. Many appear to be humorous, e.g. Cicero: 'chickpea'/'garbanzo'; Naso: 'the nose'; Caesar: 'hairy'; Caecus: 'blind'; Flaccus: 'fatty'.
AGNOMEN: a 'supplementary' name, to distinguish further between branches, or sometimes to celebrate military conquest, or sometimes to indicate an adoption (by making the birth-family name into an adjective to follow the adopted-family name).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

T. J. Cadoux, "Names, personal," Oxford Classical Dictionary 2nd. edition (Oxford 1970) pp. 720-721.
A.E. Gordon, Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University ofCalifornia, 1983) pp. 17-30.
Ernst Fraenkel, "Die latinischen Personennamen," Pauly-Wissowa-Mittelhaus-Kroll, Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft 16:3 (1935), col. 1611 ff.
I. Kajanto, Latin Cognomina (1965).
V. J. Mathews, "Some Puns on Latin cognomina," Greece and Rome 20 (1973) 20-24.
C. J. Smith, Roman Clan: The Gens from Ancient Ideology to Modern Anthropology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2006).

THE SYSTEM OF ROMAN NAMING

NAMES

BIBLIOGRAPHY: