ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2206
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2206
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26 Jan 2001
From: Judith Phillips 

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked us whether the names <Faustus Cornelius Rutilus> and <Faustia 
Cornelia Rutilia> 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 <Faustus Cornelius Rutilus> is not consistent with 
either of these systems. None of these elements is an attested praenomen. 
<Faustus> is a cognomen meaning "of favorable or fortunate omen, 
fortunate"; it is not attested as a nomen, although the nomina <Faustius>, 
<Faustinus>, <Faustinius>, and <Faustilius> are similar. <Cornelius> is a 
famous nomen; it was not used as a cognomen, although the adjectival 
derivative <Cornelianus>, "of or belonging to Cornelius" is attested.[6] 
<Rutilus> is an adjective meaning "red (inclining to golden yellow)" and, 
by extension, "shining, glittering." It was used as a cognomen, as in 
<Gaius Nautius Rutilus>.[7] There is a similar-sounding nomen, <Rutilius>. 
<Rutilianus>, "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. <Cornelius Faustus>, 
<Cornelius Rutilus> and <Rutilius Faustus> would all be excellent choices. 
Any other nomen + cognomen combination  -- <Faustius Cornelianus>, 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 <Cornelia maior> while her younger sister was called <Cornelia 
minor>. If more than two daughters survived, they might have been called 
<Cornelia Prima>, <Cornelia Secunda>, <Cornelia Tertia>, 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 <Marcus Livius Drusus> was recorded 
as <Livia Drusilla>, although <Livia Drusa> 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 (<Aemilia Lepida>, daughter of <Lucius Aemilius 
Lepidus>), by a combination of her father's and mother's nomina (<Valeria 
Attia>, daughter of <Marcus Attius Atticus> and <Valeria Sextina>), 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 <Faustus> is <Fausta>. <Cornelius> 
becomes <Cornelia> and <Rutilus> and <Rutilius> become <Rutila> and 
<Rutilia>, respectively. [6] All of the other masculine forms above can 
also be feminized by replacing the suffix <-us> with <-a>. <Cornelia 
Fausta>, <Cornelia Rutila>, and <Rutilia Fausta> 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

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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 <CORNELIA MAIOR> or 
<cornelia maior>.