What do Roman names mean: interpretation and history of origin. Beautiful Roman names for women and men: list, origin and features Beautiful Roman names

Today, Roman names are not particularly popular. This is partly due to the fact that most of them are forgotten, and their meaning is completely unclear. If you delve into history, then in the dawn of time, children and adults were given names throughout their lives, and later they turned into family surnames. The peculiarity of Roman names still arouses genuine interest among historians.

Name structure

In ancient times, people, just like now, had a name consisting of three parts. Only if we are accustomed to calling a person by last name, first name and patronymic, then the Romans had slightly different features.

The first name in Roman sounded like praenomen. It was similar to our Petyas and Mishas. There were very few such names - only eighteen. They were used only for men and were rarely pronounced; in writing they were often indicated by one or two capital letters. That is, no one wrote them completely. Few meanings of these names have survived to this day. And it’s hard to find Appii, Gnaeus and Quintus among children these days.

In fact, his name was Octavian because he was adopted by the great emperor. But, having come to power, he omitted the first three parts, and soon added the title Augustus to his name (as a benefactor of the state).

Augustus Octavian had three daughters, Julia. Having no boy heirs, he had to adopt grandchildren, who were also called Julius Caesars. But since they were only grandchildren, they retained their names given at birth. Thus, the heirs Tiberius Julius Caesar and Agripa Julius Caesar are known in history. They became famous under the simple names of Tiberius and Agripa, founding their own clans. Thus, there is a tendency towards a decrease in the name and the disappearance of the need for parts nomen and coglomen.

It is very easy to get confused in the abundance of generic names. This is why Roman names are the most difficult to recognize in the world.

Undoubtedly, the ancient Romans left the Italians a rich heritage: breathtaking palaces and squares, the Julian calendar, Roman law, and much more. What do you think, do modern residents of the Apennine Peninsula also bear the names and surnames of their distant ancestors, or have they changed them to something else?

And yet, what names and surnames did the ancient Romans have? Reply to this tricky question again my notes will help.

Names were given differently depending on a person's social status. For slaves there were one rules, for freedmen (that is, those who transferred from slavery to the status of a free person) - others, for those entering Roman citizenship - thirds, and for free citizens of Rome - fourths. To avoid confusion, let's talk about this last group. Yes, I almost forgot - women were a special category and different laws applied to them.

ONLY THE FIRST FOUR SONS WAS ALLOWED A PERSONAL NAME

First of all, a person was given a personal name - this happened on the eighth or ninth day after birth. According to tradition, by this name (among historians it is called praenomen) only the first four sons were named, and the rest had to bear a serial number: Quintus (fifth), Sextus (sixth)...

The personal name was almost always written abbreviated in documents. There were no more than 72 of them in total, but the most common ones were only eighteen, so remembering the abbreviations was not difficult. The names were as follows: Aulus, Gaius, Gneus, Lucius, Marcus, Publius, Tiberius, Titus, Appius, Mamercus, Manius, Numerius, Servius... Some (for example Numerius or Titus) were designated by only one letter - N, T.. .

It's interesting that women Ancient Rome a personal name was not required at all. Until a certain time, they all bore the name Acca Larentia (in honor of the one who raised the twins Romulus and Remus, who then founded Rome), and then this privilege was taken away from them altogether.

FAMILY NAME

If praenomen, which was described above, can be compared with a common name, then the following form ( nomen) is an analogue of a modern surname. This name was borne by all representatives of the same clan, and it was almost always written in full. About a thousand of them are known today.

Unfortunately, the meaning of many “surnames” of antiquity has been lost, but some have still been deciphered. Well, how can you not smile when you learn that in ancient times, it turns out, there were Baranovs, Kozlovs, and even Sharikovs:

Asinius -- from asinus (donkey);

Caecilius -- blind;

Caninius - from the word dog, canine;

Ovidius -- from ovis (sheep);

Porcius -- from porca (pig).

NICKNAMES AND FUNNY NICKNAMES

But the cutest category of names is represented by cognomen -- that is, a nickname that went to a separate branch of any kind. Let’s say there were two brothers, relatively speaking: Sergei Sobakin and Semyon Sobakin, both had sons, they were also called Sergei and Semyon. How can you avoid getting confused here? So they began to introduce nicknames: Sergei Sobakin Kosolapy, and Semyon Sobakin Lefty, and their children also became Kosolapovs and Lefties. Cognomen was not obligatory, but very eloquent - if some ancestor had a certain character trait or became famous for something, then he “grew” to his descendants forever.

Pilosus -- hairy;

Calvus -- bald;

Luscus -- one-eyed;

Strabo -- cross-eyed;

Scaurus -- clubfooted;

Varus -- bow-legged;

Nero - brave;

Severus is cruel.

It happened, of course, that the nickname was also based on the occupation. For example, Agricola is a farmer, Porcina is pork, pig breeder, Gailus is a rooster, Bulbus is an onion. And some unlucky Romans received nicknames like Pulex (flea) or Mus (mouse).

In general, in the end the conclusion suggests itself that everything new is well-forgotten old. After all, our surnames, like the surnames of the ancient Romans, are also “speaking”. Because history, like life itself, is a circle that closes sooner or later :)

Names of Roman citizens

Male names

In classical times, a full Roman male name usually consisted of three components: a personal name, or praenomen ( praenomen), generic name, or nomen ( nomen), and an individual nickname or name of a branch of the clan, cognomen ( cognomen).

Prenomen

The personal name was similar to the modern one male name. The Romans used a small number of personal names (18 names out of a total of 72); as a rule, they were of such ancient origin that in the classical era the significance of most of them was forgotten. In inscriptions, personal names were almost always written abbreviated (1-3 letters).

Common Roman personal names

Prenomen	Reduction	Note
Appius	App.	Appius; According to legend, this name comes from Sabine Atta and was brought to Rome by the Claudian family
Aulus	A. or Avl.	Avl; in common parlance there was an archaic form Olus, so this name can also be abbreviated ABOUT.
Decimus	D. or Dec.	Decimus; archaic Decumos; from the ordinal number "tenth"
Gaius	C.	Guy G.
Gnaeus	Cn.	Gney; archaic form Gnaivos; very rarely abbreviated as Gn.; there are forms Naevus, Naeus
Kaeso	TO.	Quezon
Lucius	L.	Lucius; archaic Loucios
Mamercus	Mam.	Mamerk; name of Oscan origin, used only in the Emilian family
Manius	M`.	Mania; the comma-shaped sign 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
Numerius	N.	Numerius; Oscan origin
Publius	P.	Publius; archaic Poblios, abbreviated as Po.
Quintus	Q.	Quint; in common parlance Cuntus, meet Quinctus, Quintulus; from the ordinal number "fifth"
Servius	Ser.	Servius
Sextus	Sex.	Sextus; from the ordinal number "sixth"
Spurius	S. or Sp.	Spurius; can also be used not as a praenomen, but in its original meaning “illegitimate”
Titus	T.	Titus
Tiberius	Ti. or Tib.	Tiberius

Other personal names were rarely used and were usually written in full: Agrippa, Ancus, Annius, Aruns, Atta, Cossus, Denter, Eppius, Faustus, Fertor, Herius, Hospolis, Hostus, Lar, Marius, Mesius, Mettus, Minatius, Minius, Nero, Novius, Numa, Opiter, Opiavus, Ovius, Pacvius (Paquius), Paullus, Pescennius (Percennius), Petro, Plancus, Plautus, Pompo, Popidius, Postumus, Primus, Proculus, Retus, Salvius, Secundus, Sertor, Statius, Servius, Tertius, Tirrus, Trebius, Tullus, Turus, Volero, Volusus, Vopiscus. Personal name Pupus(boy) was used only in relation to children.

The boy received a personal name on the eighth or ninth day after birth. There was a tradition of giving a personal name to only the four eldest sons, and the rest could be given ordinal numbers as a personal name: Quintus(fifth, cf. Old Russian. Pyatak), Sextus(sixth, cf. Old Russian. Shestak), Septimus (seventh, cf. Old Russian. Semak), Octavius (eighth, cf. Old Russian. Osmak), and Decimus (tenth). Over time, these names became commonly used (that is, they turned into personal names), and as a result, a person bearing the name Sextus was not necessarily the sixth son in the family. As an example, we can recall the commander Sextus Pompey, the second son of a member of the first triumvirate, Gnaeus Pompey the Great, for a long time fought against Julius Caesar.

Often the eldest son received his father's praenomen. In 230 BC e. this tradition was consolidated by a decree of the Senate, so that the father’s personal name began, as a rule, to pass to the eldest son. For example, Emperor Octavian Augustus, like his great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather and father, bore the name Gaius.

In some genera, a limited number of personal names were used. For example, the Cornelius Scipios had only Gnaeus, Lucius and Publius, the Claudius Nero had only Tiberius and Decimus, the Domitius Ahenobarbi had only Gnaeus and Lucius.

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

Nomen

Origin and suffixes of generic names

Origin	Ending	Examples
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

The generic name was the name of the clan and corresponded approximately to the modern surname. It was indicated in the form of a masculine adjective and ended in the classical era with -ius: Tullius- Tullius (from the Tullian family), Julius- Julius (from the Julius family); in republican time there are also endings -is, -i. Generic names of non-Roman origin had endings different from those named.

In inscriptions, family names are usually written in full; During imperial times, only the names of very famous families 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, according to Varro, reached a thousand. Most family names are of such ancient origin that their meaning has been forgotten. Only a few make sense: Asinius from asinus(donkey), Caelius from caecus(blind), Caninius from canis(dog), Decius from decem(ten), Fabius from faba(bean), 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).

Slaves were also given the names of mythical heroes: Achilles, Hector; names of plants or stones: Adamant, Sardonicus, 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 in any way affect the names of slaves who do not have mocking nicknames. On the contrary, slaves have names Felix And Faustus(happy). Obviously, these nicknames, which became names, were received only by those slaves whose lives were relatively successful. The inscriptions mention: Faustus, the baker of Tiberius Germanicus, and Faustus, the manager of the perfume shop of his master Popilius, Felix, who was in charge of the jewelry of Gaius Caesar, another Felix, the manager of the estates of Tiberius Caesar, and another Felix, an overseer in the wool weaving workshops of Messalina; the daughters of one slave from the house of Caesars were called Fortunata and Felitsa.

The name is often found among slaves Ingenus or Ingenuus(freeborn). Slaves born into slavery have names Vitalio And Vitalis(tenacious).

There were no hard and fast rules regarding slave names. Therefore, when buying a slave in an official document, his name was accompanied by the clause “or by whatever other name he may be 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 master's name there is the word servus(slave) is always abbreviated ser, very rarely s, it can also stand between two cognomen of the master; There is no strict word order at all. The word "slave" is often completely absent; as a rule, slaves owned by women do not have it. For example, Euticus, Aug(usti) ser(vus), pictor- Eutyk, slave of Augustus (imperial slave), painter; Eros, cocus Posidippi, ser(vus)- Eros, cook Posidippus, slave; Idaeus, Valeriae Messalin(ae) supra argentum- Ideas, treasurer of Valeria Messalina.

A sold slave retained the family name or cognomen of his former master in a modified form with a suffix -an-: Philargyrus librarius Catullianus- Philargir, scribe purchased from Catullus.

Freedmen's names

A freedman (i.e., 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. Thus, Cicero’s secretary Tyrone, freed from slavery, was called: M. Tullius M. libertus Tiro- Marcus Tullius, freedman of Marcus Tiron. A slave named Apella, set free by Marcus Manneus Primus, became known as Marcus Manneus Apella. The slave Bassa, freed by Lucius Hostilius Pamphilus, received the name Hostilius Bassa (women did not have a name). Lucius Cornelius Sulla freed ten thousand slaves who belonged to persons who died during the proscriptions; they all became Lucius Cornelius (the famous “army” of ten thousand “Cornelians”).

The names of imperial freedmen are often found in the inscriptions: the baker Gaius Julius Eros, the tailor of theatrical costumes Tiberius Claudius Dipterus, the man in charge of the triumphal white clothes of the emperor Marcus Cocceus Ambrosius, the man in charge of the hunting clothes of the emperor Marcus Ulpius Euphrosynus, the man in charge of the reception of the emperor's friends Marcus Aurelius Success, etc.

In the inscriptions between the nomen and cognomen of the freedman, the personal name of the master is abbreviated and stands l or lib (= libertus), very rarely the tribe is 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, his cognomen appears: L(ucius) Nerfinius, Potiti l(ibertus), Primus, lardarius- Lucius Nerfinius Primus, freedman of Potitus, sausage maker. Freedmen of the imperial house are abbreviated in inscriptions Avg l (Avg lib), i.e. Augusti libertus(after the generic name or after the cognomen): L(ucio) Aurelio, Aug(usti) lib(erto), Pyladi, pantomimo temporis sui primo- Lucius Aurelius Pylades, imperial freedman, the first pantomime of his time.

It is rare to find freedmen with two cognomen: P(ublius) Decimius, P(ublii) l(ibertus), Eros Merula, medicus clinicus, chirurgus, ocularius- Publius Decimius Eros Merula, freedman of Publius, general practitioner, surgeon, ophthalmologist.

Female freedmen in inscriptions are designated by the abbreviation ƆL(the inverted letter C represents a remnant of the archaic female personal name Gaia): L(ucius) Crassicius, Ɔ (= mulieris) l(ibertus), Hermia, medicus veterinarius- Lucius Crassicius Hermia, female freedman, veterinarian.

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

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

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

Literature

Kajanto I. The Latin Cognomina. 1985
Schulze W. Zur Geschichte lateinischer Eigennamen. 1933

Notes

Links

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see also

The topic of these names is vast and you can delve into it for a very long time - naming traditions have changed over the course of one and a half millennia, and each clan had its own quirks and customs. But I tried and simplified it all for you into ten interesting points. I think you'll like:

1. The classical 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 clan name, “nomen” is 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 was passed down by inheritance.

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

2. In general, it was a tradition for the eldest son to inherit all his father's names. Thus, he also took over the status and titles of his parent, continuing his work. The remaining sons were usually given different prenomen, so as not to confuse the children. As a rule, they were called the same as their father's brothers.

But they only bothered 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.

Eventually, due to the continuation of this practice for many years, the number of popular praenomen narrowed from 72 to a small handful of repeated names: Decimus, Gaius, Caeso, Lucius, Marcus, 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. The society of Ancient Rome was clearly divided into plebeians and patricians. And although there were sometimes cases where families of distinguished plebeians achieved aristocratic status, a much more common method of social advancement was adoption into a noble family.

Usually this was done to prolong the lineage of an influential person, which means that the adopted person had to take the name of the new parent. At the same time, his previous name turned into a nickname-cognomen, sometimes in addition to the existing cognomen of his adoptive father.

Thus, Gaius Julius Caesar adopted in his will his great-nephew, Gaius Octavius Furius, and he, having changed his name, began to be called Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian. (Later, as he seized power, he added several 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 it until he somehow distinguished himself from his relatives.

During the late Republic, people often chose out-of-fashion praenomen as cognomen. For example, at the dawn of the Roman state there was a popular praenomen "Agrippa". As the centuries passed, its popularity waned, but the name was revived as a cognomen among some influential families of the late Republican period.

A successful cognomen was fixed 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 regarding which kongnomen its members appropriated.

5. All Roman names had masculine and feminine forms. This extended not only to personal praenomen, 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 Agrippina.

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

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

That is, all the women in the Yuli family were Yulia. It was easy for parents to name their daughter, but others didn’t need it (until she got married). And if there were two daughters in the family, then they were called Yulia the Elder and Yulia the Younger. If three, then Prima, Second and Tertius. Sometimes the eldest daughter could be called "Maxima".

7. When a foreigner acquired Roman citizenship - usually upon completion 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 immediately became citizens by imperial decree. According to tradition, they all took the name of the emperor, which caused considerable embarrassment.

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

8. Imperial names are generally something special. What are they lived longer and the emperor reigned, the more names he collected. These were mainly cognomen and their later variety, agnomen.

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

Over time, "Caesar Augustus" became not so much a name as a title - it was adopted by those who sought imperial power.

9. Beginning with the early empire, praenomen began to fall out of favor, and were largely replaced by cognomen. This was partly due to the fact that there were few prenomen in use (see point 2), and family traditions increasingly dictated that all sons be named the father’s prenomen. Thus, from generation to generation, praenomen and nomen remained the same, gradually turning into a complex “surname”.

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

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

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

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

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

1.

The classical 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 clan name, “nomen” is 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 was passed down by inheritance.

2.

In general, it was a tradition for the eldest son to inherit all his father's names. Thus, he also took over the status and titles of his parent, continuing his work. The remaining sons were usually given different prenomen, so as not to confuse the children. As a rule, they were called the same as their father's brothers.

But they only bothered 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.

3.

The society of Ancient Rome was clearly divided into plebeians and patricians. And although there were sometimes cases where families of distinguished plebeians achieved aristocratic status, a much more common method of social advancement was adoption into a noble family.

4.

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

5.

All Roman names had masculine and feminine forms. This extended not only to personal praenomen, 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 Agrippina.

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

6.

But personal names, praenomen, were rarely used among women of the late Republic. And Cognomen 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 between them. Be that as it may, most often, even in noble families, daughters were called simply the feminine form of their father's nomen.

7.

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

8.

Imperial names are generally something special. The longer the emperor lived and ruled, the more names he collected. These were mainly cognomen and their later variety, agnomen.
For example, Emperor Claudius's full name was Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.

Over time, "Caesar Augustus" became not so much a name as a title - it was adopted by those who sought imperial power.

9.

Beginning with the early empire, praenomen began to fall out of favor, and were largely replaced by cognomen. This was partly due to the fact that there were few prenomen in use (see point 2), and family traditions increasingly dictated that all sons be named the father’s prenomen. Thus, from generation to generation, praenomen and nomen remained the same, gradually turning into a complex “surname”.

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

10.

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

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

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