Roman names

A Roman man usually had three names:

1. Praenomen: given name

Of these the Romans had a rather limited supply. You will almost always see them abbreviated.

A.   Aulus	M'. Manius
C.   Gaius	P. Publius
Cn. Gnaeus	Q. Quintus
D. Decimus	S. Sextus
L. Lucius	T. Titus
M. Marcus	Ti. Tiberius

M. f. = Marci filius ("son of Marcus")

2. Nomen (nomen gentilicium): family or clan name

Such names as Tullius, Julius, Claudius, Terentius, Vergilius, Ovidius, Caecilius, Livius, Aemilius, Octavius, Porcius

Women were called by the feminine form of their father's nomen (e.g. Tullia is Cicero's daughter; Terentia is his wife).

3. Cognomen: an extra descriptive name handed down from father to son. These originally had meanings (or were associated with meanings in the popular imagination):

Cicero: chick-pea (garbanzo bean)

Caesar: < caesaries (a dark head of hair)

Naso: large nose

Maro: < root smar- (thoughtful)

Flaccus: flap-eared

Scipio: sceptre (staff carried by persons of wealth or honor)

Cato: < (associated with) catus shrewd

Additional cognomina might be taken from events in a person's life: e.g. Africanus for successful campaigning in Africa.

At adoption, a person took the adopting father's full name, but retained as cognomen the name of his original gens.

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus adopts a son from the gens Aemilia. The new son becomes Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus.

Gaius Julius Caesar adopts Octavius who becomes C. Julius Caesar Octavianus (the honorific, Augustus, was later added).