ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2206 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2206 ************************************ 26 Jan 2001 From: Judith Phillips Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us whether the names and would be appropriate for Romans living circa 250 CE. Here is the information we found. Throughout the republic period and the early imperial period, Roman men were named according to a three-element system: praenomen, nomen, and cognomen. This sort of name was called the tria nomina. The first element, the praenomen or forename, was originally analogous to a given name. However, praenomina were chosen from a fixed set of names. This set, small to begin with, shrank over time, and by the first century BCE only 18 praenomina were in use. Moreover, some families used only a few of these, so by imperial times at the latest the praenomen was not a very useful way to identify an individual. [1] The second element, the nomen, was the name of an individual's gens or family and thus corresponded to the modern surname. These extended families could be quite large, so some nomina were very common. Nor were all bearers of a particular nomen necessarily related. A new citizen, for example, often took the nomen of the emperor who had granted his new status or that of an influential person who had helped him gain it, and a freed slave took the nomen of the former master [2]. It was usually the third element, the cognomen or nickname, that identified an individual. The cognomina served several other functions as well. A branch of a larger family might use a combination of their nomen with a particular cognomen as a hereditary surname. The inherited cognomen was called an agnomen. A cognomen could also signify adoption into a family. A man might have several cognomina, fulfilling all of these functions; in a formal name these would all be used, one after the other. [3] In less formal situations, the personal cognomen was the most important. Early in the third century the praenomen fell out of use in Rome and the traditional tria nomina was supplanted (at least among the nobility) by a new system of nomen, cognomen, and agnomen. [4, 5] By your date of 250 CE most men had names composed of a nomen and one or more cognomina. Unfortunately, your name is not consistent with either of these systems. None of these elements is an attested praenomen. is a cognomen meaning "of favorable or fortunate omen, fortunate"; it is not attested as a nomen, although the nomina , , , and are similar. is a famous nomen; it was not used as a cognomen, although the adjectival derivative , "of or belonging to Cornelius" is attested.[6] is an adjective meaning "red (inclining to golden yellow)" and, by extension, "shining, glittering." It was used as a cognomen, as in .[7] There is a similar-sounding nomen, . , "of or belonging to Rutilius," could also have been used as a cognomen. [6] There are several ways in which these elements can be combined into a masculine Roman name for your period. The most typical style of name at that time was the simple nomen + (personal) cognomen. , and would all be excellent choices. Any other nomen + cognomen combination -- , for example -- would also be appropriate. While there are indications that feminine praenomina once existed, we found no example of a woman using the tria nomina or any other three-element name. Women's names in the republic period usually consisted of the father's nomen (feminized) and a cognomen. The latter often indicated birth order; for example, the older daughter of a Cornelius might have been called while her younger sister was called . If more than two daughters survived, they might have been called , , , and so on. [3, 8] By the late Republic period, women usually bore a feminized nomen followed by a feminized form or even a feminine diminutive of their father's cognomen. For example, the daughter of was recorded as , although would have been equally appropriate. Many variations arose during the imperial period, and by the latter centuries of the empire a woman might have been known by her father's nomen and cognomen (, daughter of ), by a combination of her father's and mother's nomina (, daughter of and ), or by her father's nomen and a personal cognomen. [3] Any of your elements can be used in a feminine name, with a little modification. The usual feminine form of is . becomes and and become and , respectively. [6] All of the other masculine forms above can also be feminized by replacing the suffix <-us> with <-a>. , , and would all be fine choices. In summary, a two-element name consisting of a nomen followed by a cognomen is probably most appropriate for either a man or a woman living in Rome circa 250 CE. The cognomen is the most individually distinctive part of the name. The appropriate forms of each of your elements are summarized below; all can be feminized by replacing the suffix <-us> with <-a>. nomina: Faustius, Faustinus, Faustinius, Cornelius, Rutilius cognomina: Faustus, Cornelianus, Rutilus, Rutilianus I hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please do not hesitate to contact us if any part of it has been unclear or if you have any further questions. I was assisted in writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur, Maridonna Benvenuti, Dietmar von Straubing, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Julie Stampnitzky, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Blaise de Cormeilles. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 26 January 2001 -------------------------------------------- References: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). p. xviii. [2] Birley, Anthony, _The People of Roman Britain_ (London: B T Batsford, Ltd, 1979). pp. 15-17 [3] Mackay, Christopher S. "Roman Names." (WWW: University of Alberta, 1997.) [URL: http://www.ualberta.ca/~csmackay/CLASS_365/Roman.Rep.Names.html]. [4] Birley, op. cit., p. 19. [5] One factor in this shift may have been the Edict of Caracalla, published in 212 CE, which granted citizenship to all freemen living within the Roman Empire. The tria nomina may have become less popular once it was no longer a mark of citizenship. (Birley, op. cit., pp. 18-19) [6] Solin, Heikki & Olli Salomies, _Repertorium Nominum Gentilium et Cognominum Latinorum_ (Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann, 1988). [7] Fox, Clifton R., "Ordinary Consuls of the Roman Republic and Empire 300 BC-- 68 AD" in "Roman Empire" (WWW: privately published, 1998). [URL: http://wwwtc.nhmccd.cc.tx.us/people/crf01/rome/] [8] Roman scripts have no distinction between upper and lower case, so the form appropriate for your period would have been or .