The topic of these names is extensive and you can dig there for a very long time - the naming traditions have changed over one and a half millennia, and each family had its own quirks and customs. But I tried, and I simplified it all for you in ten interesting points. I think you will like:

1. The classic name of a Roman citizen consisted of three parts:

The personal name, "prenomen", was given by the parents. It is similar to today's names.

The name of the genus, "nomen" - something like our surnames. Belonging to an old noble family meant a lot.

An individual nickname, "cognomen", was often given to a person for some kind of merit (not necessarily good), or it was inherited.

For example, the most famous Roman, Gaius Julius Caesar, had Gaius as the pre-nomen, Julius as the nomen and Caesar as the cognomen. Moreover, he inherited all three parts of his name from his father and grandfather, both of whom were called exactly the same - Gaius Julius Caesar. So "Julius" is not a name at all, but rather a surname!

2. In general, the inheritance of all the names of his father by the eldest son was a tradition. Thus, he also took over the status and titles of a parent, continuing his work. The rest of the sons, as a rule, were given other prenomens so as not to confuse the children. As a rule, they were called the same as the father's brothers.

But they only bother with the first four sons. If more of them were born, then the rest were simply called by number: Quintus (fifth), Sextus (sixth), Septimus (seventh), etc.

As a result, due to the continuation of this practice for many years, the number of popular pre-domains narrowed from 72 to a small bunch of repeated names: Decimus, Guy, Caeson, Lucius, Mark, Publius, Servius and Titus were so popular that they were usually abbreviated with just the first letter. ... Everyone immediately understood what it was about.

3. Society of Ancient Rome was clearly divided into plebeians and patricians. And although there have sometimes been cases where families of distinguished plebeians have sought aristocratic status, a much more frequent method of social growth has been adoption into a noble family.

Usually this was done in order to prolong the family of an influential person, which means that the adopted child had to accept the name of the new parent. At the same time, his previous name became a cognomen nickname, sometimes in addition to the existing cognomen of his adoptive father.

So, Gaius Julius Caesar adopted in his will his grand-nephew, Gaius Octavius ​​Fury, and he, having changed his name, began to be called Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian. (Later, as he seized power, he added a few more titles and nicknames.)

4. If a person did not inherit the cognomen from his father, then he spent the first years of his life without him, until he distinguished himself in some way from his relatives.

During the era of the late Republic, people often chose out-of-fashion pre-phenomena as cognomen. For example, at the dawn of the Roman state, there was a popular pre-phenomenon "Agrippa". Over the centuries, its popularity faded, but the name was revived as a cognomen among some influential families of the late republican period.

A successful cognomen was entrenched for many generations, creating a new branch in the family - this was the case with Caesar in the Julian family. Also, each family had its own traditions on the topic of which congnomens its members appropriated.

5. All Roman names were masculine and feminine. This extended not only to personal names, but also to surnames-nomens, and nicknames-cognomens. For example, all women from the Julian clan were called Julia, and those who had the cognomen Agrippa were called Agrippins.

When a woman married, she did not take her husband's nomen, so it was difficult to confuse her with other family members.

6. But personal names, pre-names, were rarely used among women of the late Republic. And the Cognomens too. Perhaps this was due to the fact that women did not take part in the public life of Rome, so there was no need for outsiders to distinguish them. Be that as it may, most often, even in noble families, daughters were called simply the female form of their father's nomen.

That is, all the women in the Yuliev family were Julia. It was easy for parents to name their daughter, while others did not need it (until she got married). And if the family had two daughters, then they were called Julia the Elder and Julia the Younger. If three, then Prima, Second and Third. Sometimes the eldest daughter could be called "Maxima".

7. When a foreigner acquired Roman citizenship - usually at the end of military service - he usually took the name of his patron, or, if he was a freed slave, the name of his former master.

During the period of the Roman Empire, there were many cases when a huge number of people became citizens at once by imperial decree. By tradition, they all took the name of the emperor, which caused considerable embarrassment.

For example, the Edict of Caracalla (this emperor got his cognomen from the name of the Gallic clothing - a long robe, the fashion for which he introduced) made all free people in its vast territory citizens of Rome. And all these new Romans adopted the imperial nomen of Aurelius. Of course, after such actions, the meaning of these names greatly diminished.

8. Imperial names are generally something special. The longer the emperor lived and ruled, the more names he gained. These were mainly cognomen and their late variety, agnomes.

For example, the full name of Emperor Claudius was Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.

Over time, "Caesar Augustus" has already become not so much a name as a title - it was accepted by those who sought imperial power.

9. Since the early empire, the pre-domains began to lose popularity, and were largely replaced by the cognomen. This was partly due to the fact that there were few pre-phenomena in everyday life (see point 2), and family traditions more and more often dictated the name of all sons by the father. Thus, from generation to generation, the pre-nomen and nomen remained the same, gradually turning into a complex "surname".

At the same time, it was possible to roam the Congnomen, and after the 1st - 2nd centuries AD, it was they who became the real names in our understanding.

10. Starting from the 3rd century AD, prenomen and nomen in general began to be used less and less. This was partly due to the fact that a lot of people with the same nomens appeared in the empire - people who massively received citizenship as a result of the imperial decree (see paragraph 7) and their descendants.

Since cognomen had become a more individual name by this time, people preferred to use it.

The last documented use of the Roman nomen was in the early 7th century.

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For fourteen centuries, the Romans and other peoples of Italy used a naming system that differed from those used by other cultures in Europe and the Mediterranean, consisting of a combination of personal and family names. The traditional Roman system of three names (lat.tria nomina) combines prenomen (lat.Praenomen), nomen (lat.Nomen) and cognomen (lat.Cognomen), which began to be considered as the main elements of the Roman name. In fact, the Roman name system was a continuous process of development, at least from the 7th century BC. NS. until the end of the 7th century AD. Names, evolving within this system, became a defining characteristic of Roman civilization, and although the system itself disappeared during the early Middle Ages, the names of this system had a huge impact on the development of European naming practices, and many of them continue to live in modern languages.

Roman names

lat. Romani nomina

A distinctive feature of Roman names was the use of personal names and permanent surnames. Across Europe and the Mediterranean, other ancient civilizations distinguished man through the use of separate personal names. Composed of two separate elements, these names allowed for hundreds or even thousands of possible combinations. A completely different name system arose in Italy, where a hereditary surname was added to the personal name. Over time, this binomial system has expanded to include additional names and designations.

The most important of these names was nomen gentilicium, or simply nomen, a hereditary surname that identified a person as a member of a particular genus. This was preceded by praenomen, or name, a personal name that served to distinguish the various members of the genus. The origin of this binary system is lost in prehistoric times, but the system appears to have been created in Lazio and Etruria around 650 BC. NS. In writing, nomen was usually followed by descent, indicating the personal name of the individual's father, and sometimes the name of the mother or other predecessors. Towards the end of the Roman republic, it was followed by the name of the electoral tribe (Latin tribe) of the citizen. Finally, these elements could be followed by additional surnames, or cognomina, which could be either personal or hereditary, or a combination of both.

Roman philologists came to regard the combination of pre-nomen, nomen, and cognomen as the defining characteristic of Roman citizenship, known as tria nomina... But while all three elements of the Roman name have existed throughout most of Roman history, the concept tria nomina can be misleading because not all of these names were necessary or used throughout Roman history. During the period of the Roman Republic, prenomenes and nomens represented the basic elements of a name; the cognomen first appeared among the Roman aristocracy at the beginning of the Republic, but was not widely used until the second century BC among the plebeians who made up the majority of the Roman people. But even then, not all Roman citizens bore the cognomen, and until the end of the Republic, the cognomen was considered somewhat less than the official name. In contrast, in imperial times the cognomen became the main distinguishing element of the Roman name, and although the prenomen never completely disappeared, the main elements of the Roman name from the 2nd century onwards were the nomen and the cognomen.

Women's names also differed from the classical concept. tria nomina... Originally, the binomial system of names for men was used for Roman women; but over time, the pre-phenomenon became less useful as a distinctive element, and the female pre-phenomenon was gradually abandoned or replaced by informal names. By the end of the republic, most Roman women either did not have or did not use the prenomen. Most women referred to them as nomen alone, or as a combination of nomen and cognomen. Prenomen was still given when needed, and as with the male pre-domain, the practice survived into imperial times, but the proliferation of personal cognomen eventually made the use of female pre-domains obsolete.

In the late empire, members of the Roman aristocracy used several different patterns of application and inheritance of the nomen and cognomen, both to denote their rank and to indicate their family and social ties. Some Romans became known for alternative names, and the full names of most Romans, even among the aristocracy, were rarely recorded.

Thus, although the three types of names referred to as tria nomina, existed throughout Roman history, the period during which the majority of citizens possessed exactly three names was relatively short. However, since most important persons in the best documented periods of Roman history possessed all three names, tria nomina remains the most well-known concept of a Roman name.

For a number of reasons, the Roman naming system collapsed some time after the collapse of imperial power in the west. Prenomenes had already become scarce in written sources in the 4th century, and by the 5th century it was preserved only by the most conservative parts of the old Roman aristocracy. As Roman institutions and social structures gradually disappeared during the 6th century, the need to distinguish between nomens and cognomens also disappeared. Towards the end of the seventh century, the populations of Italy and Western Europe returned to separate names. But many of the names that originated within tria nomina have been adapted for use and have survived into modern times.

The three types of names that came to be regarded as typically Roman were prenomen, nomen, and cognomen. In their unity, they were called tria nomina... Although not all Romans possessed three names, the practice of using multiple names with different functions was a hallmark of Roman culture that distinguished citizens from foreigners.

The system of Roman names distinguishes between male and female names of Roman citizens, the names of slaves and the names of freedmen.

Names of Roman citizens

Male names

In the classical period, a full Roman male name usually consisted of three components:

— prenomen - personal name,

— nomen - generic name,

— cognomen (cognomen) - an individual nickname or genus name.

Sometimes a second or third cognomen was added, which was called agnomen... Nomen and later cognomen were essentially always hereditary. Such a system originated from the Etruscan civilization.

Prenomen

The personal name was similar to the modern male name. It was the only part of the name where the parents had any choice. This name was given to the boy on the day of his lustration (from Lat. Lustratio - cleansing through sacrifice). As a rule, only family members called the boy his pre-nomen. Women, according to Roman custom, had no pre-nomenclature.

The Romans used a small number of pre-names out of a total of 72 names. Approximately 98% of all male Roman names made up the 18 most important prenomena, of which the most popular - Lucius, Guy, Mark - accounted for 59%. As a rule, pre-phenomena were of such ancient origin that in the classical era the meaning of most of them was forgotten. In the inscriptions, personal names were almost always written in abbreviated form (1-3 letters).

The boy received a personal name on the eighth or ninth day after birth. There was a tradition to give a personal name only to the four eldest sons, and the rest of the personal name could be ordinal: Quintus (fifth) Sextus (sixth), Septimus (seventh), Octavius ​​(eighth), and Decimus (tenth). Over time, these names became common (that is, they became personal), and as a result, a person named Sextus does not have to be the sixth son in the family. As an example, we can recall the commander Sextus Pompey , second son of a member of the first triumvirate Wrath of Pompey the Great .

Often the eldest son received the name of the father. In 230 BC. NS. this tradition was consolidated by a decree of the Senate, so the personal name of the father began, as a rule, to pass to the eldest son. For example, the emperor Octavian August was, like his great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather and father, the name Guy .

Common Roman personal names

Prenomen	Reduction	Note
Appius	App.	Appius; according to legend, this name comes from the Sabine Atta and the Claudians were brought to Rome
Aulus	A. or Avl.	Avl; in common parlance, there was an archaized form Olus, so this name can also be abbreviated O.
Decimus	D. or Dec.	Decimus; archaic Decumos; from the ordinal number "tenth"
Gaius	C.	Guy; it was often written as Caius, therefore it is abbreviated as C., and very rarely as G ... It has been happening since the days when C and G were not distinguished in writing. The name comes from the Etruscan Cae or Cai, the meaning is unknown.
Gnaeus	Cn.	Gnei; archaic form Gnaivos; very rarely shortened as Gn.; there are forms Naevus, Naeus, Cnaeus.
Kaeso	TO.	Keson; another spelling option - Caeso... Means "cut from the womb". An uncommon prenomenon, used only in the Fabiev family.
Lucius	L.	Lucius; archaic Loucios- from lux (light).
Mamercus	Mam.	Mamerk; name of Oscan origin, used only in the Emilian family
Manius	M`.	Mania; the comma in the upper right corner is the remainder of the five-line outline of the letter M.
Marcus	M.	Mark; there is a spelling Marqus... Derived from Etruscan Marce, the meaning is unknown. It was very common.
Numerius	N.	Numerius; Oskan origin. Connected with the genus Fabiev .
Publius	P.	Publius; archaic Poblios abbreviated as Po. Comes from lat. publius- "folk", and this, in turn, from the Etruscan Puplie.
Quintus	Q.	Quint; colloquially Cuntus, meet Quinctus, Quintulus; from the ordinal number "fifth". It was very common.
Servius	Ser.	Servius- from servo(protect, protect). Less common.
Sextus	Sex.	Sextus; from the ordinal number "sixth"
Spurius	S. or Sp.	Spurius; can also be used not as a prenomen, but in its original meaning "extramarital"
Titus	T.	Titus- from Etruscan Tite, the meaning is unknown.
Tiberius	Ti. or Tib.	Tiberius- from Etruscan Thefarie which possibly means "river". It was very common.

The rest of the personal names were rarely used and were usually written in full:

Agrippa - "born feet first."

Aruns, Vel, Lar, are of Etruscan origin.

Vopisk (Vopiscus), Druz (Drusus) - used only in the patrician family Klavdiev .

Decius - associated with a patrician family Minutia .

Camillus - used only in the patrician family branch Fury who united with the family Arrunciev ... Better known as cognomen.

Marius - possibly derived from the Roman god Mars.

Marcel (Marcellus) - comes from the Celtic "having a fatal blow". Better known as cognomen.

Mettius ("Mettius) - from Etruscan Metie.

Non (Nonus) - "ninth", Octavian (Octavianus) - "eighth", Primus (Primus) - "first", Secundus - "second", Septim (Septimus) - "seventh", Tertius (Tertius) - "third",

Opiter - associated with a patrician family Verginiev .

Postumus (Postumus) - "born after the death of his father."

Faust (Faustus) - "happy", archaic pre-phenomenon, revived by the dictator Sulla for his twin children and used by his descendants. Uncommon prehenomenon.

Flavius ​​(Flavius) - from flavus (gold), imperial prenomen after III century. Reached the 8th century. n. NS.

Celius (Caelus) - from Etruscan Caele.

Erius (Herius) - used in the plebeian family Asiniev .

Amulius, Ancus, Annius, Atta, Vibius, Volero, Volusus, Denter, Eppius, Cossus, Mesius, Minatius, Minius, Nero, Novius, Numa, Ovius, Opiavus, Hospolis, Hostus, Paullus, Pacvius, Paquius, Pescennius, Percennius, Petro, Plancus, Plautus, Pompo, Popidius, Potitus , Proc (u) l (Proc (u) lus), Retus, Salvius, Servius, Sertor, Sisenna, Statius, Tirrus, Trebius (Trebius), Tullus (Tullus), Tour (Turus), Fertor (Fertor).

Personal name Pupus(boy) was used only in relation to children.

In some genera, a limited number of personal names were used. For example, in Corneliev Scipionov there were only Gnaeus, Lucius and Publius, Klavdiev Neronov - only Tiberius and Decimus, at Domitiev Ahenobarbov - only Gnei and Lucius.

The criminal's personal name could be forever excluded from the genus to which he belonged; for this reason in the patrician family Klavdiev the name Lucius was not used, and in the patrician family Manliev - the name is Mark. By decree of the Senate, the name Mark was forever excluded from the genus Antoniev after the fall of the triumvir Mark Antony .

Nomen

The generic name was the name of the genus and approximately corresponded to the modern surname. It was indicated in the form of an adjective masculine and ended in the classical era in -ius: Tullius - Tullius (from the genus Tulliev ), Julius - Julius (from the genus Yuliev ); in republican time, the endings -is, -i are also found. Generic names of non-Roman origin had different endings from the indicated ones.

Origin and suffixes of generic names:

Origin	The ending	Examples of
roman	-ius	Tullius, Julius
	-is	Caecilis
	-i	Caecili
Sabine-Osk	-enus	Alfenus, Varenus
umbrian	-as	Maenas
	-anas	Mafenas
	-enas	Asprenas, Maecenas
	-inas	Carrinas, Fulginas
Etruscan	-arna	Mastarna
	-erna	Perperna, Calesterna
	-enna	Sisenna, Tapsenna
	-ina	Caecina, Prastina
	-inna	Spurinna

In inscriptions, generic names are usually written in full; in imperial times only the names of very famous genera were abbreviated: Aelius - Ael., Antonius - Ant. or Anton., Aurelius-Avr., Claudius-Cl. or Clavd., Flavius ​​- Fl. or Fla., Julius - I. or Ivl., Pompeius - Pomp., Valerius - Val., Ulpius - Vlp.

The total number of generic names, by Varro , reached a thousand. Most of the generic names are of such ancient origin that their meaning has been forgotten. Only a few have a definite meaning: Asinius from asinus (donkey), Caelius from caecus (blind), Caninius from canis (dog), Decius from decem (ten), Fabius from faba (bob), Nonius from nonus (ninth), Octavius ​​from octavus (eighth), Ovidius from ovis (sheep), Porcius from porca (pig), Septimius from septimus (seventh), Sextius and Sextilius from sextus (sixth), Suillius from suilla (pork).

From the 1st century BC e., when the prerequisites for the transition from a republican form of government to autocracy appeared in Rome, the persons who took possession of the supreme power began to justify their rights to power by descent from ancient kings and heroes. Julius Caesar, for example, pointed out that his family originates from his father to the gods: Jupiter - Venus - Aeneas - Yul - genus Yuliev , and according to the mother to the kings: from Anka Marcia happened Marcia Rexa (lat.rex - king).

Cognomen

An individual nickname, once given to one of the representatives of the genus, often passed on to descendants and became the name of a family or a separate branch of the genus: Cicero - Cicero, Caesar - Caesar. For example, to the family Korneliev belonged to families Scipionov , Rufinov , Lentulov etc. The presence of cognomen is not necessary in some plebeian genera (in Mariev , Antoniev , Octaviev , Sertoriev and others), personal nicknames, as a rule, were absent. However, the lack of cognomen was an exception to the rule, since many of the genera of Rome were of such ancient origin that each of them consisted of several branches.

Since the personal name of the father passed to the eldest son, in order to distinguish the son from the father, the third name had to be used. The inscriptions meet Lucius Sergius the First , Quint Aemilius II ; in one inscription, grandfather, son and grandson are named Quint Fulvius Rustic , Quintus Fulvius Attian and Quint Fulvius Carisian .

Cognomens arose much later than personal and generic names, so their meaning in most cases is clear. They can say:

- about the origin of the genus ( Fufii moved to Rome from the Campanian town of Cales and therefore had the cognomen Calenus),

- about memorable events (in the plebeian family Muciev the cognomen of Scaevola (left-handed) appeared after in 508 BC. NS. during the war with the Etruscans Guy Muzio burned his hand on the fire of the brazier, thereby awe the enemies and their king Porsennu ),

- about the appearance or special features of their first owners (Paullus - short, Rufus - red, Strabo - cross-eyed, Habitus - well-fed, Ahenobarbus - red-bearded, Crassus - fat, Rutilus - red, Massa - lump, Crispus - curly, Arvina - Pilosus - hairy, Laetus - obese, Calvus - bald, Macer - thin, Ravilla - yellow-eyed, Celsus - tall, Paetus - sly looking, Luscus - one-eyed, Longus - long; Strabo - cross-eyed, Capito - big-headed, Nasica - sharp-nosed - toothed, Naso - nosed, Flaccus - lop-eared, Silus - snub-nosed, Balbus - stutter, Blaesus - lisp, Pansa - with wide feet, Scaurus - clubfoot, Varus - bow-legged, Dives - rich, Carus - expensive, Nobilior - very famous and etc.),

- about character (Severus - cruel, Probus - honest, Lucro - glutton, Pulcher - beautiful, Lepidus - graceful, Nero - brave, etc.).

Agnomen

There were cases when one person had two nicknames, the second of which was called agnomen (lat. Agnomen). The emergence of agnomen is due in part to the fact that the eldest son often inherited all three names from his father, and thus several people with the same names ended up in the same family. For example, the famous orator Mark Tullius Cicero had a father and son with exactly the same name.

Agnomen was most often a personal nickname if the cognomen was hereditary. Sometimes a Roman received an agnomene for any special merit. Publius Cornelius Scipio in honor of the victory he won over Hannibal in Africa in 202 BC e., began to be called solemnly African (Latin Africanus). Lucius Emilius Paul received the nickname Macedonian (lat.Macedonicus) for the victory over the Macedonian king Perseus in 168 BC NS. dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla he himself added agnomen Felix (Latin Felix - happy) to his name, so that his full name became Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix ... Agnomen Felix from a personal nickname it then turned into a hereditary one (consul A.D. 52. Favst Cornelius Sulla Felix (Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix)).

As a rule, agnomen were members of ancient and noble families, with many branches and cognomen. In such genera the cognomen sometimes almost merged with the generic name and was used inseparably with it for the name of the genus. Famous plebeian family Tseciliev (Caecilii) had the ancient cognomen Metellus, whose meaning is forgotten (freed mercenary). This cognomen, as it were, merged with the name of the genus, which began to be called Cecilia Metella ... Naturally, almost all members of this genus had an agnomen.

The patrician family had many branches Korneliev ... One of the members of this family received the nickname Scipio (Latin scipio - rod, stick), because he was the guide of his blind father and served him as if instead of a staff. Cognomen Scipio entrenched himself with his descendants, over time Cornelia Scipione occupied a prominent place in their family and received agnomenes. In the III century BC. NS. Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio received agnomen Asina (donkey) for bringing a donkey laden with gold to the Forum as a pledge. Asina's nickname passed to his son Publish (Publius Cornelius Scipio Asina). Another representative Corneliev Scipionov received the nickname Nasica (sharp-nosed), which passed to his descendants and became the name of the branch of the genus, so that in the genus Korneliev separated from the branch of the Scipios Scipions of Nazica ... It is natural that Scipions of Nazica as an individual nickname, they received the third cognomen, so that the full name could already consist of five names: Publius Cornelius Scipio Nazica Serapion (Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio), Consul 138 BC NS.; the nickname Serapio (from the Egyptian god Serapis) was given to him by the people's tribune Curiosities for his resemblance to the sacrificial animal dealer.

Some people had two generic names, it turned out as a result of adoption. According to Roman customs, the adopted son took the personal name, family name and cognomen of the person who adopted him, and kept his family name in a modified form with the suffix -an-, which took the place of agnomen. Guy Octavius , future emperor August , after his adoption Guy Julius Caesar got a name Guy Julius Caesar Octavian (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus).

Female names

In the late republican and imperial times, women did not have personal names, the female name was the female form of the generic name: Tullia - Tullia (from the genus Tulliev e.g. daughter Mark Tullius Cicero ), Julia - Julia (from the genus Yuliev e.g. daughter Guy Julius Caesar ), Cornelia - Cornelia (from the genus Korneliev e.g. daughter Publius Cornelius Scipio ). Since all women in one genus had a single name, they differed in age within the genus. When another daughter appeared in the family, the prenomen was added to the name of both: Minor (youngest) and Major (senior); other sisters were called Secunda (second), Tertia (third), Quinta (fifth), etc .; the youngest had the Minor name.

The married woman retained her name, but the cognomen of her husband was added to it: Cornelia, filia Cornelii, Gracchi - Cornelia, daughter of Cornelia, (wife) of Gracchus.

Noble women could bear, in addition to the generic name, the cognomen of their father; for example, wife Sulla was a daughter Lucius Cecilia Metella Dalmatika and was called Cecilia Metella , the emperor's wife August was a daughter Mark Livy Drusus Claudiana and was called Libya Drusilla .

In the inscriptions with the names of women, the pre-nomen and cognomen of the father are sometimes indicated, as well as the cognomen of the husband in the genus. case: Caeciliae, Q (uinti) Cretici f (iliae), Metellae, Crassi (uxori) - Cecilia Metella, daughter of Quintus Creticus, (wife) Crassus. From the inscription it follows that this woman was a daughter Quinta Cecilia Metella Cretica and wife Crassus ... The inscription was made on a large round mausoleum near Rome on the Appian Way, in which she was buried Cecilia Metella , daughter of the consul 69 BC e., wife Crassus , presumably the eldest son of the Triumvir Mark Licinius Crassus .

Slave names

In ancient times, slaves did not have individual names. Legally, slaves were considered not a subject, but an object of law, that is, they were the master's thing and were as powerless as all members of the surname. This is how archaic slave names were formed, composed of the personal name of the lord, the father of the surname, and the word puer (boy, son): Gaipor, Lucipor, Marcipor, Publipor, Quintipor, Naepor (Gnaeus + puer), Olipor (Olos is the archaic form of the personal name Aulus ).

With the development of slavery, there was a need for personal names for slaves. Most often, the slaves retained the name they bore when they still lived as free people. Very often, Roman slaves had names of Greek origin: Alexander, Antigonus, Hippocrates, Diadumen, Museum, Felodespot, Philocal, Philonic, Eros, and others. Greek names were sometimes given to barbarian slaves.

The name of the slave could indicate his origin or place of birth: Dacus - Dacian, Corinthus - Corinthian, Cyrus (native of Syria), Gall (native of Gaul), Phryx (from Phrygia); there are slaves in the inscriptions with the name Peregrinus - a foreigner.

Also, the slaves were given the names of mythical heroes: Achilles, Hector; names of plants or stones: Adamant, Sardonic, etc. Instead of a name, a slave could have the nickname "First", "Second", "Third".

It is known that the slave lot in Rome was very difficult, but this did not affect the names of the slaves, who do not have mocking nicknames. On the contrary, the slaves have the names Felix and Faustus (happy). Obviously, these nicknames, which became the name, were received only by those slaves whose life was relatively successful. The inscriptions mention: Faust, the baker Tiberius Germanicus , and Faust, the head of his master's perfume shop Popilia , Felix, in charge of ornaments Guy Caesar , another Felix, lord of the domain Tiberius Caesar , and another Felix, the overseer in the wool weaving workshops Messalines ; the daughters of a slave from the house of the Caesars were named Fortunata and Felitsa.

More than once the name Ingenus or Ingenuus (freeborn) is found among slaves. Slaves born into slavery are named Vitalio and Vitalis (tenacious).

There were no hard and fast rules regarding the names of slaves. Therefore, when buying a slave in an official document, his name was accompanied by the clause "or whatever other name he was called" (lat. Sive is quo alio nomine est).

In the inscriptions after the name of the slave, the name of the master in the genitive case and the nature of the slave's occupation are indicated. After the name of the lord there is the word servus (slave), always abbreviated ser, very rarely s, it can also stand between two cognomen of the lord; in general, there is no strict word order. The word "slave" is often completely absent; as a rule, slaves belonging to women do not have it. For example, Euticus, Aug (usti) ser (vus), pictor - Eutic, slave August (imperial slave), painter; Eros, cocus Posidippi, ser (vus) - Eros, cook Posidippa , slave; Idaeus, Valeriae Messalin (ae) supra argentum - Idea, treasurer Valeria Messalina .

The sold slave retained the generic name or cognomen of his former master in a modified form with the suffix -an-: Philargyrus librarius Catullianus - Filargir, scribe, bought from Catullus .

Freedmen names

A freedman (that is, a slave who received freedom) acquired the personal and family names of the former master, who became his patron, and retained his former name as a cognomen. So the secretary Cicero Tyrone, freed from slavery, was called: M. Tullius M. libertus Tiro - Mark Tullius, Mark's freed Tyrone. A slave named Apella, set free Mark Mannay Prim , became known as Mark Manney Apella. Bass's slave released Lucius Hostilius Pamphilus , received the name Hostiliya Bassa (women did not have a name). Lucius Cornelius Sulla set free ten thousand slaves belonging to persons who died during the proscriptions; they all became Lucius Cornelias (the famous "army" of ten thousand "Cornelians").

The inscriptions often contain the names of the imperial freedmen: baker Guy Julius Eros , tailor of theatrical costumes Tiberius Claudius Dipter in charge of the emperor's triumphant white dress Mark Coccei Ambrose in charge of the emperor's hunting clothes Mark Ulpius Euphrosynus in charge of the reception of the emperor's friends Marcus Aurelius Success and etc.

In the inscriptions between the nomen and cognomen of the freedman, the personal name of the lord is abbreviated and stands l or lib (= libertus), the tribe is very rarely indicated: Q (uintus) Serto, Q (uinti) l (ibertus), Antiochus, colonus pauper - Quintus Sertorius Antiochus , freedman of Quintus, poor colon. In rare cases, instead of the personal name of the former master, there is his cognomen: L (ucius) Nerfinius, Potiti l (ibertus), Primus, lardarius - Lucius Nerfinius Primus, Potitus' freedman, sausage maker. Freedmen of the imperial house are abbreviated in the inscriptions Avg l (Avg lib), i.e. Augusti libertus (after the generic name or after cognomen): L (ucio) Aurelio, Aug (usti) lib (erto), Pyladi, pantomimo temporis sui primo - Lucius Aurelius Piladus, imperial freedman, the first pantomime of his time.

Freedmen with two cognomen are rare: P (ublius) Decimius, P (ublii) l (ibertus), Eros Merula, medicus clinicus, chirurgus, ocularius - Publius Decimius Eros Merula, Publius’s freedman, physician, surgeon, ophthalmologist.

Freedmen of women in the inscriptions are designated by the abbreviation? L (the inverted C represents the remnant of the archaic female personal name Gaia): L (ucius) Crassicius,? (= mulieris) l (ibertus), Hermia, medicus veterinarius - Lucius Crassicius Hermia, woman's freedman, veterinarian.

Freedmen of cities as a generic name received the name Publicius (from publicus - public) or the name of the city: Aulus Publicius Germanus, Lucius Saepinius Oriens et Lucius Saepinius Orestus - the freedmen of the city of Sepina in Italy.

Doctors, servants of the deity Aesculapius (Greek. Asclepius), usually bore his name. For example, Guy Calpurnius Asklepiad is a physician from Prusa near Olympus, who received Roman citizenship from the Emperor Trajan. However, the name Asclepius, or Asclepiades, did not always belong to the doctor: one inscription contains Asclepiades, Caesar's slave, a marble maker.

The freedmen of the corporations retained their names in their name: the freedmen of the corporation of scrappers and tailors (fabri centonarii) were called Fabricii and Centonii.

Provincial names

With the development of Roman expansion beyond the Apennine Peninsula, foreign names were introduced. The freed soldiers of the foreign Roman legions and all others who received Roman citizenship could (and many did so) continue to use, at least in part, their old names. Most of them were of Greek origin, while others came from regions that were under Roman influence. Foreign soldiers in the field who were granted citizenship often adopted their emperor's nomen, adding their foreign name as a cognomen.

New citizens often adopted the nomen of the reigning emperor in addition. For example, after Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Septimius Bassianus Antoninus) extended civil rights to all free people in the empire, many of them adopted the nomen Aurelius (in fact, nomen Caracalla was Septimius. The nomen Aurelius was added with a claim to belonging to the Roman nobility).

Full name example :

MarcusAureliusMarcif.Quintin.tribuGaleriaAntoninusPius,domoCaesaraugusta, which consists of the following elements:

prenomen: Mark

nomen: Aurelius (belongs to the genus Aureliev )

father's name: a son Brand

grandfather's name: grandson Quint

tribe: Galeria (a tribe in the Caesaraugusta region of Spain)

cognomen: Antonin (family Antoninov )

agnomen: Pius (probably due to its softness it is rarely passed on to offspring)

town: Caesaraugusta (now Zaragoza in Spain)

Another example of a fully qualified name:

C (= Gaius) Cornelius, C (= Gaii) f (ilius), Pom (ptina tribu), Dert (ona), Verus.

Guy Cornelius Ver, son of Guy, from the Pomptin tribe, originally from Dertona ...

In daily communication, a combination of nomen and pre-nomen, or often just cognomen, was commonly used. So, Mark Livy Druz could be just Druz or Mark Livy. Julia Martsiana could be just Julia.

What would be your name in ancient Rome?

The naming system is needed to identify people in any society, and even in our free times, it is subject to certain rules. it was easier for people to decide on the names of their children - the rules and traditions greatly narrowed the room for maneuver in this area.

If there was no male heir in the family, the Romans often adopted one of their relatives, who, entering into inheritance, took the personal name, family name and cognomen of the adoptive parent, and kept his own surname as an agnomen with the suffix "-an". For example, the destroyer of Carthage was born as Publius Aemilius Paul, but was adopted by his cousin, Publius Cornelius Scipio, whose son and heir died. So Publius Aemilius Paul became Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilian and after he destroyed Carthage, he received Agnomenos African-the Younger, in order to differ from his grandfather Publius Cornelius Scipio-Africanus. Then, after the war in modern Spain, he received another agnomen - Numantian. Guy Octavius, being adopted by the brother of his grandmother Guy Julius Caesar and having inherited, became Guy Julius Caesar Octavian, and later received the agnomen Augustus.

Slave names

The unequal position of slaves was emphasized by the fact that they were addressed by their personal names. If officiality was necessary, after the personal name of the slave, as a rule, the surname of his master was indicated in the genitive case and with the abbreviation ser or s (from the word serv, i.e. slave) and / or the occupation. When selling a slave the nomen or cognomen of its former owner was retained with the suffix "-an".

If a slave was released, then he received both pronomen and nomen - respectively the names of the person who released him, and as cognomen - his personal name or profession. For example, in the trial against Roscius the Younger, his intercessor Mark Tullius Cicero essentially accused Sulla's freedman, Lucius Cornelius Chrysogon. Between the nomen and the cognomen of freedmen, abbreviations l or lib were written from the word libertine (freedman, freed).

I started reading about how people were called in ancient Rome, and was very impressed. Compared to how these guys stood out in our today's world, everything is very simple (even if we take into account the Russian patronymics).
The topic of these names is extensive and you can dig there for a very long time - the naming traditions have changed over one and a half millennia, and each family had its own quirks and customs. I have simplified all of this for you in ten interesting points.

1.

The classic name of a Roman citizen consisted of three parts:

The personal name, "prenomen", was given by the parents. It is similar to today's names.

The name of the genus, "nomen" - something like our surnames. Belonging to an old noble family meant a lot.

An individual nickname, "cognomen", was often given to a person for some kind of merit (not necessarily good), or it was inherited.

For example, the most famous Roman, Gaius Julius Caesar, had Gaius as the pre-nomen, Julius as the nomen and Caesar as the cognomen. Moreover, he inherited all three parts of his name from his father and grandfather, both of whom were called exactly the same - Gaius Julius Caesar. So "Julius" is not a name at all, but rather a surname!

2.

In general, the legacy of the eldest son of all the names of his father was a tradition. Thus, he also took over the status and titles of a parent, continuing his work. The rest of the sons, as a rule, were given other prenomens so as not to confuse the children. As a rule, they were called the same as the father's brothers.

But they only bother with the first four sons. If more of them were born, then the rest were simply called by number: Quintus (fifth), Sextus (sixth), Septimus (seventh), etc.

As a result, due to the continuation of this practice for many years, the number of popular pre-domains narrowed from 72 to a small bunch of repeated names: Decimus, Guy, Caeson, Lucius, Mark, Publius, Servius and Titus were so popular that they were usually abbreviated with just the first letter. ... Everyone immediately understood what it was about.

3.

Society of Ancient Rome was clearly divided into plebeians and patricians. And although there have sometimes been cases where families of distinguished plebeians have sought aristocratic status, a much more frequent method of social growth has been adoption into a noble family.

Usually this was done in order to prolong the family of an influential person, which means that the adopted child had to accept the name of the new parent. At the same time, his previous name became a cognomen nickname, sometimes in addition to the existing cognomen of his adoptive father.

So, Gaius Julius Caesar adopted in his will his grand-nephew, Gaius Octavius ​​Fury, and he, having changed his name, began to be called Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian. (Later, as he seized power, he added a few more titles and nicknames.)

4.

If a person did not inherit the cognomen from his father, then he spent the first years of his life without him, until he distinguished himself in some way from his relatives.

During the era of the late Republic, people often chose out-of-fashion pre-phenomena as cognomen. For example, at the dawn of the Roman state, there was a popular pre-phenomenon "Agrippa". Over the centuries, its popularity faded, but the name was revived as a cognomen among some influential families of the late republican period.

A successful cognomen was entrenched for many generations, creating a new branch in the family - this was the case with Caesar in the Julian family. Also, each family had its own traditions on the topic of which congnomens its members appropriated.

5.

All Roman names were masculine and feminine. This extended not only to personal names, but also to surnames-nomens, and nicknames-cognomens. For example, all women from the Julian clan were called Julia, and those who had the cognomen Agrippa were called Agrippins.

When a woman married, she did not take her husband's nomen, so it was difficult to confuse her with other family members.

6.

But personal names, pre-names, were rarely used among women of the late Republic. And the Cognomens too. Perhaps this was due to the fact that women did not take part in the public life of Rome, so there was no need for outsiders to distinguish them. Be that as it may, most often, even in noble families, daughters were called simply the female form of their father's nomen.

That is, all the women in the Yuliev family were Julia. It was easy for parents to name their daughter, while others did not need it (until she got married). And if the family had two daughters, then they were called Julia the Elder and Julia the Younger. If three, then Prima, Second and Third. Sometimes the eldest daughter could be called "Maxima".

7.

When a foreigner acquired Roman citizenship - usually at the end of military service - he usually took the name of his patron, or, if he was a freed slave, the name of his former master.

During the period of the Roman Empire, there were many cases when a huge number of people became citizens at once by imperial decree. By tradition, they all took the name of the emperor, which caused considerable embarrassment.

For example, the Edict of Caracalla (this emperor got his cognomen from the name of the Gallic clothing - a long robe, the fashion for which he introduced) made all free people in its vast territory citizens of Rome. And all these new Romans adopted the imperial nomen of Aurelius. Of course, after such actions, the meaning of these names greatly diminished.

8.

Imperial names are generally something special. The longer the emperor lived and ruled, the more names he gained. These were mainly cognomen and their late variety, agnomes.
For example, the full name of Emperor Claudius was Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.

Over time, "Caesar Augustus" has already become not so much a name as a title - it was accepted by those who sought imperial power.

9.

Since the early empire, the pre-domains began to lose popularity, and were largely replaced by the cognomen. This was partly due to the fact that there were few pre-phenomena in everyday life (see point 2), and family traditions more and more often dictated the name of all sons by the father. Thus, from generation to generation, the pre-nomen and nomen remained the same, gradually turning into a complex "surname".

At the same time, it was possible to roam the Congnomen, and after the 1st - 2nd centuries AD, it was they who became the real names in our understanding.

10.

Starting from the 3rd century AD, prenomen and nomen in general began to be used less and less. This was partly due to the fact that a lot of people with the same nomens appeared in the empire - people who massively received citizenship as a result of the imperial decree (see paragraph 7) and their descendants.

Since cognomen had become a more individual name by this time, people preferred to use it.

The last documented use of the Roman nomen was in the early 7th century.

Male names

Female names

August Augustine Amadeus Amadeus Anton Anufriy (Onufriy) Boniface Benedict Valery Valentine Venedict Vivian Vincent Victor Vitaly Hermann Dementius Dominic Donut Ignat (Ignatius) Innocent Hypatius Capiton Kasyan (Kassian) Claudius Klim (Clement) Concordium Konstantin Constance Cornil Cornelius Roots Laurel Lawrence Leonty Luke Lucian Maksim Maximillian Mark Martin (Martyn) Mercury Modest Ovid Paul Patrick Prov novel Severin Sergey Silantius Sylvan Sylvester Terenty Theodore Ustin Felix Flavian (Flavius) Flor Florence Fortunat Felix Caesar Erast Emil Juvenal Julian Julius Justin Januarius

August Agnia Agnes Akulina Alevtina Alina Albina Antonina Aurelia Aster Beatrice Bella Benedict Valentine Valeria Venus Vesta Species Victoria Vitalina Virginia Virinea Dahlia Gloria Hydrangea Gemma Julia Diana Dominica Blast furnace Iolanta Kaleria Karina Capitolina Claudia Clara Clarice Clementin Concordia Constance Laura Lillian Lily Lola Love Lucien Lucia (Lucia) Margarita Marina Marceline Matron Natalia (Natalia) Nonna Paul Peacock (Paulina) Rimma Regina Renata the Rose Sabina Silvia Stella Severin Ulyana Ustin Faustina Flora Felicata Felice Cecilia Emilia Juliana Yuliya Juno Justinia

The meaning of Roman (Romano-Byzantine) names

Roman male names and their meaning

Male: Augustus (sacred), Anton (Roman generic name, in Greek - entering the battle), Valentine (big man), Valery (strong man), Venedict (blessed), Vincent (conquering), Victor (winner), Vitaly (life), ( horned), Laurel (tree), Lawrence (crowned with a laurel wreath), Leonidas (lion cub), Leonty (lion), Maxim (largest), Mark (lethargic), Martyn (born in March), Modest (modest), Mokey (mockingbird ), Pavel (finger), Prov (test), Prokofy (prosperous), Roman (Roman), Sergei (Roman family name), Sylvester (forest), Felix (lucky), Frol (blooming), Caesar (regal), Juvenal (youthful), Julius (fidgety, curly), Januarius (doorkeeper).

Roman female names and their meaning

Womens: Aglaya (shine), Agnessa (sheep), Akulina (eagle), Alevtina (strong woman), Alina (non-native), Albina (white woman), Beatrice (lucky), Valentina (strong, healthy), Victoria (goddess of victory), Virginia ( virgin), Diana (goddess of the hunt), Kaleria (alluring), Capitolina (after the name of one of the seven hills of Rome), Claudia (lame), Clementine (indulgent), Margarita (pearl), Marina (sea), Natalia (nee), Regina (queen), Renata (renewed), Ruth (red), Silva (forest).

Our new book "Name Energy"

Oleg and Valentina Svetovid

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Attention!

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The only area of ​​our work is correspondence consultations in writing, training through an esoteric club and writing books.

Sometimes people write to us that on some sites they saw information that we allegedly deceived someone - they took money for healing sessions or making amulets. We officially declare that this is slander, not true. Throughout our life, we have never deceived anyone. On the pages of our site, in the materials of the club, we always write that you need to be an honest decent person. For us, an honest name is not an empty phrase.

People who write slander about us are guided by the basest motives - envy, greed, they have black souls. The times have come when defamation pays well. Now many people are ready to sell their homeland for three kopecks, and it is even easier to slander decent people. People who write slander do not understand that they seriously worsen their karma, worsen their fate and the fate of their loved ones. It makes no sense to talk with such people about conscience, about faith in God. They do not believe in God, because a believer will never make a deal with his conscience, he will never engage in deception, slander, or fraud.

There are a lot of swindlers, pseudo-magicians, charlatans, envious people, people without conscience and honor, hungry for money. The police and other regulatory authorities have not yet coped with the increasing influx of "Cheating for profit" madness.

So please be careful!

Best regards - Oleg and Valentina Svetovid

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