ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3055 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3055 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 5 May 2005 From: Josh Mittleman (no address) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether or is an appropriate name for a Greek or Roman, and you asked what period these names fit best. Here is what we have found. In your notes to us, you mentioned several cultures and places that you thought might play a part in your persona history: Scotland, Orkney, Spain, Rome, Greece, and Troy [10]. These cultures didn't exist at the same time, so there's no way a historical person could have interacted with all of them. Troy was destroyed around 1200 BC. The Romans never reached Orkney, and the Gaels did not settle in Scotland until after the Romans abandoned Britain. Trying to fit all these elements into one persona story would result in something that could exist only in fantasy fiction. Happily, there are times and places which accomodate your name to one degree or another: both Republican and Imperial Rome, and Greece under the Roman empire. We'll discuss the naming customs of these times and places, and give specific suggestions for names which match the customs in each setting. In Rome up to the early 3rd century, citizens of the Empire used a three-part name. This consisted of a praenomen (given name), nomen (clan name), and cognomen (personal nickname or name of a branch of the clan). was used in this period as a nomen; and both "faithful, loyal, trustworthy" and "arrogant; proud" were used as cognomina. [11] Therefore, if you add a praenomen, you will have a fine classical Roman name. The selection of men's praenomina is quite small: in your period, there were only eighteen [1]. Appius Lucius Quintus Aulus Mamercus Servius Decimus Marcus Sextus Gaius Manius Spurius Gnaeus Numerius Tiberius Kaeso Publius Titus Of these, some were used only within certain families (e.g. and were used only by the Aemilii) [1]. A name like is a fine choice for a Roman citizen up to the early 3rd century and is possible up to the early 4th century [2]. Because there were only a handful of praenomina, that name was never particularly useful for individual identification: A man was normally identified by his nomen and cognomen. A simplified two-element naming system became standard in the 3rd century and remained in use in the 4th and 5th centuries, though by then most people used only a single name [3]. Your two names, [9] and are fine choices for this period, anywhere in the Roman Empire. By the later part of this period, a two-element name would have implied that the person was a member of the upper class. In the 1st century, the name was adopted from the Romans by the Greeks, in the form . The slash represents an acute accent mark over the preceding letter. The earliest examples we found use it as a cognomen, as in the name 96-102 AD [5]. We've transliterated the original Greek letters, using for omega. In later use as a given name, was moderately common throughout Greece and the Greek cities of the Near East from the 2nd century through the 6th or 7th century [4, 5, 6, 7]; and it remained in use as late as the 12th century [8]. However, we do not have examples of Greek versions of or , so we can't recommend either of those as part of a Greek name. We may be able to suggest a Greek byname with a similar meaning, if that interests you. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Adelaide de Beaumont, Gunnvor Silfraharr, Eoin Caimbeul, Blaise de Cormeilles, Talan Gwynek, Juliana de Luna, Ursula Georges, Maridonna Benvenuti, Kathalyn Nimet, Mor inghean Chathail, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 5 May 2005 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), p. xviii. [2] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2661 has an example of the tria nomina in 319. http://www.s-gabriel.org/2661 [3] In the 3rd century, the praenomen was dropped entirely, and men tended to use two-element names consisting of a nomen and cognomen. Naming customs continued to simplify: 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 (i.e. a surname based on the father's given name). See Academy of S. Gabriel report 2842. http://www.s-gabriel.org/2842 [4] A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, Volume III.A, The Peloponnese, Western Greece, Sicily, and Magna Graecia, edited by P.M. Fraser and E. Matthews (Oxford: Clarendon Press), p.288. [5] A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, ed. P.M. Fraser and E. Matthews, Vol. II, Attica ed. M.J. Osborne and S.G. Byrne (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994). [6] The data from the previous two sources is also available online at http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/. However, the dates of names are available only in the print editions. Fraser, P.M., and E. Matthews, "The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names" (WWW: Oxford University, 1998). [7] Bardas Xiphias, "Common Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the 6th and 7th Centuries" (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/byzantine/early_byz_names.html [8] "Byzantine Seals: 1025-1261" in "Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire" (WWW: Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London), seal of Maximos Krateros, 11th-12th century. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/PBE/seals/index.htm [9] The name was registered with the SCA College of Arms in 1980. The Welsh name sounds similar to the Latin name and, in fact, derived from it. We don't think the SCA College of Arms will find a conflict between your name and the registered one, but we wanted to let you know of the possibility. [10] We have no reliable evidence of Trojan names, which were not Greek. The surviving records of Trojan names were all written by Greek poets, and are undoubtedly significantly altered in translation. [11] Solin, Heikki & Olli Salomies, _Repertorium Nominum Gentilium et Cognominum Latinorum_ (Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann, 1988). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Annotation by Aryanhwy, 27 Aug 2008: Added footnote [11].