Roman Naming Conventions - Mid/late Republic To The Early Empire - Praenomen, Nomen, Cognomen

Praenomen, Nomen, Cognomen

The praenomen, equivalent to given names today, was chosen by the parents (often with the pater familias naming male infants after himself). There was, however, a very limited selection of praenomina, such as Gaius, Gnaeus, Marcus, Quintus, Publius, Tiberius, and Titus. As a result, men from a given family often have identical names for generations. It was therefore necessary to use other names (cognomen and later, agnomen) to distinguish between individuals. Only intimates would use the praenomen.

The second name, or nomen gentile (usually simply nomen), rarely gentilicium, 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. This meant 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, Junius, Pompeius, Antonius, Didius and Valerius.

The third name, or cognomen, began as a nickname or personal name that distinguished individuals with the same names. Cognomina do not appear in official documents until around 100 BC. Often the cognomen was chosen based on some physical or personality trait, sometimes with ironic results: Julius Caesar's cognomen, in one interpretation, meant hairy (cf. etymology of the name of Julius Caesar) although he was balding, and Tacitus' cognomen meant silent, while he was a well-known orator. However, from the Republican era, many cognomina were no longer nicknames, but instead were passed from father to son, serving to distinguish a family within a gens (and frequently requiring an agnomen to distinguish people of the same family if they shared praenomen as well as nomen and cognomen).

Some males had a cognomen that ends in -anus, which was adapted from and commemorated a nomen, sometimes their maternal family or—if they were adopted—their original paternal family. For instance, Vespasian's nomen (Flavius) came from his father's nomen. His cognomen (Vespasianus), on the other hand, was derived from his mother's nomen, Vespasia. Others had cognomina that were derived not from the nomen, but the cognomen of their mothers' families. For instance, Caracalla's maternal grandfather was Julius Bassianus, but Caracalla's cognomen was not Julianus, but rather Bassianus as well.

When a man was adopted into another family, he would take on his adoptive father's names (excluding the praenomen). If he chose to, he could turn his original nomen into an additional cognomen that followed his newly gained names. For example, these adoptees incorporated into their new names their adopted family's nomen and cognomen, and also kept their birth family's nomen:

• Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus: Publius was adopted into the Cornelii Scipiones, but was born an Aemilius.
• Mamercus Aemilius Lepidus Livianus: Mamercus was born a Livius, adopted into Aemilii Lepidi.

Not all adoptees chose to identify their birth families. For instance, as an adult, Augustus did not use his cognomen Octavianus (shortened to Octavian), since the gens Octavia was not nearly as esteemed as the Julii. (See also: Adoption in Rome.)