Roman name
Roman male names typically contain three proper nouns which are classified as the praenomen (or given name), the nomen (or gens name) and the cognomen. Sometimes a second cognomen (called an agnomen) is added. For female names, the convention is similar, with a few differences.
Additional elements such as agnomen and filiation are optional.
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Praenomen
(Praenomen, plural: praenomina) This form of "first" name was relatively unimportant, and was rarely used on its own outside of the family. There are relatively few praenomina that were commonly used in the Republican era of Rome.
Nomen
(Nomen plural: nomina) The second name or nomen is the name of the gens (clan) in masculine form; the Latin word "gens" is feminine, so the name appears as feminine in our lists.
Cognomen
(Cognomen, plural: cognomina) The third name or cognomen started to be a nickname or personal name that distinguished individuals within the same gens (the cognomen does not appear in official documents until around 100 BCE). During the Roman Republic, the cognomen is inherited from father to son, serving to distinguish a family within a gens. Often the cognomen was chosen based on some physical or personality trait.
Additional elements & examples
Originally, the praenomen and nomen constituted a Roman's full name and were followed by the so-called filiation (a patronymic or indication of paternity). The filiation (patronymicus) consisted of the Latin word for "son," filius (abbreviated by the letter f.), preceded by the abbreviation of the father's praenomen, which was understood in the genitive case. Hence, a Roman might have been known as
M. Antonius M. f. (=Marci filius), that is, Marcus Antonius, the son of Marcus.
Additionally it could also indicate the grandfather with the word "grandson," nepos (abbreviated by the letter n.).
By the Middle Republic the abbreviation for tribe in which the man was enrolled was added after his filiation. When this became an official part of the name is not known. By 242 BC the number of tribes was fixed at 35:
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A tribe was not an indication of common ancestry; the tribes were distributed geographically and a man belonged to the tribe in which his main residence was located. The tribe was an essential part of citizenship, since voting was often carried out by tribe. With the expansion of the Empire, the number or tribes also expanded. In Nova Roma, assignment to tribes is performed by the Censors. If you don't know your tribe, email them and ask.
Ok, let's analyse the example of a complete name: Marcus Aurelius Marci f. Quinti n. tribu Galeria Antoninus Pius, domo Caesaraugusta.
- praenomen: Marcus
- nomen: Aurelius (he belongs to gens Aurelia, the Aurelii in plural)
- patronymicus: son of Marcus
- grandparent: grandson of Quintus
- tribe: Galeria (a tribe from the region of Caesaraugusta in Hispania)
- cognomen: Antoninus (family of the Antonini)
- agnomen: Pius (probably because of his piety...rarely inherited))
- city: Caesaraugusta (ancient Saragozza in Hispania)
In everyday use, people are referred to by either a combination of the praenomen and nomen, or even more usually by just their cognomen.
- "Marcus Livius Drusus" would either be just "Drusus" or "Marcus Livius."
- "Iulia Marciana" would be just "Iulia."
