ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2944 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2944 ************************************ 29 Nov 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if 'Berenice daughter of Calvin' is an appropriate name for a Romano-British woman living between 350 and 450. Here is what we have found. Before we start, we'd like to warn you that we don't have many sources for names from this period. This is both because there were few written records from this period, and because overwhelmingly men were recorded and not women. In the early Roman Empire, most citizens used a tria nomina or triple name, which consisted of a praenomen (given name), nomen (gens or clan name), and cognomen (originally a personal nickname, but later inherited within a branch of a gens). By the third century, this style of naming had fallen out of fashion. The praenomen disappeared from use, and two-element names became the norm. By the fourth century, 90% of men and women in the Empire were identified by a single name (derived from a cognomen); by the fifth century that number had risen to 95%. The remainder used a nomen plus cognomen, or, in a few cases, a single name plus a patronymic byname [9,10,11]. Thus, a a single element name is the best choice for your period. is a Macedonian form of Greek . [1] (When we're discussing Greek names represents the letter epsilon, and represents the letter eta.) The name is found in classical Greek records as , , , and . [2] was also the name of a 4th century Syrian martyr [1], several Ptolemaic queens in Cyrenaica and Eygpt, and several Herodian Jewish princesses in Judea, the most recent living in the 1st century AD. [7,8] While there were Greeks in Roman Britain, and some Greek names were borne by non-Greeks, we have not found any evidence for outside of Greece and Byzantium. Because of this, we cannot recommend as good recreation for a woman living in Roman Britain. The Latin word means 'bald'. [3] It was used as both a nomen (family name, clan name) and cognomen (personal nickname; secondary family name) in the Roman era; we found an emperor who died in 238 AD, and a from 39 BC (pictures of coins with this man's face show him with a full head of hair, so it is clear that this word was not being used descriptively). [4,5,6] It's not implausible that this cognomen was used in Roman Britain; if it was, the feminine form would be , not . We're sorry that we could not be more optimistic, and hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please don't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear, or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 29 November 2004 -- References: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Berenice. [2] Fraser, P.M., and E. Matthews, "The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names" (WWW: Oxford University, 1998) http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/ [3] The popularity of as a modern given name probably derives in large part from John Calvin, the 16th-century Protestant Reformer. He was born in Picardy and the French form of his name is , which was Latinized , and then rendered into English as . [12,13] [4] "Balbinus, Decimus Caelius Calvinus." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2004. Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service. 15 Nov. 2004 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9011915 [5] "Domitius Calvinus" (WWW: Digilander.Libero.It, no date) http://digilander.libero.it/adamaney/englishversion/roma/domiziocalvin o.htm [6] "Browsing Roman Imperatorial Coins of Calvinus" (WWW: Wildwinds.com, no date) http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/imp/calvinus/i.html [7] "Berenice" (WWW: Brainy Encyclopedia.com, no date) http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/b/be/berenice.html [8] "Berenice, b. c.A.D. 28, Jewish princess", Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001. (WWW: Bartleby.com, 2004) http://www.bartleby.com/65/be/Berenic28.html [9] Kajanto, "The Emergence of the Late Single Name System" in _L'Onomastique Latine_ (Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1977). He notes an exception: "In the inscriptions of the Roman magistrates of senatorial rank in CIL, VI, we find one or more gentilicia followed by one or more cognomina still in common use in the 5th century AD. Polyonymy rather than single name was characteristic of the late nomenclature of the Roman nobility. It was not until the 6th century that even the aristocrats began to bear single names." [10] Andrew Robert Burn, "The Romans in Britain: an anthology of inscriptions" (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1969). [11] Arthur Ernest Gordon, _Album of Dated Latin Inscriptions_ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1958-65). He confirms the pattern noted by Kajanto, including the use of longer names among higher-ranking officials. [12] "Calvin, John" The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001–04. http://www.bartleby.com/65/ca/Calvin-J.html [13] Dunkling, Leslie and William Gosling, _The New American Dictionary of First Names_ (New York: Signet Books, 1983). s.n. Calvin