ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3272 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3272 ************************************ 29 Mar 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an authentic name for a Roman man living in the 1st or 2nd century AD. Here is what we have found. Republic-era Roman names generally followed a three-part formation. The first part was the praenomen (literally "fore-name"), which originally corresponded to the later notion of a given name, except that there was only a very small, fixed set of possible praenomina. As time went by, the set shrank even more and particular families might use only a few of those. The second part of the three-part name is the nomen (name), which corresponds to our modern idea of a fixed, hereditary surname. This name identified not only which immediate family you belonged to, but identified your connections to a larger extended family. The third part of the name is the cognomen, which originated as a personal nickname of an individual. However, a sub-branch of a larger family might use a fixed nomen-cognomen combination as their hereditary surname. Additionally, an individual might have more than one cognomen serving different functions; he might have a personal cognomen, a name indicating adoption into some family, and the cognomen of his branch of the family. In a formal name, these cognomens were used together, one after another. This method of naming persisted after the end of the republic, though by your period it was no longer universally used. was used as a cognomen and a nomen during the Republic era. It is also one of the 18 praenomina which was still in use in the 1st century BC. [1,2] The nomen we find at least as late as the 1st century BC. [3,4,5] The cognomen was primarily used as an honorific. A son of emperor Claudius originally called was given the cognomen after Claudius conquered Britain. [9,10] Septimius Severus, who was emperor from 193 to 211, was also given the name [6], and his predecessor Commodus was also called . [7] Commodus received the title after the restoration of the Antonine Wall, even though it was actually his general who restored it. [8] It's therefore unclear to us whether was used in your period other than as an honorific cognomen. If it was, then is a fine choice for your name. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won'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 Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 29 March 2007 -- References: [1] Solin, Heikki & Olli Salomies, _Repertorium Nominum Gentilium et Cognominum Latinorum_ (Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann, 1988). [2] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), p. xviii. [3] "MD.Balt.JHU.L.41" (WWW: US Epigraphy Project, no date) http://usepigraphy.brown.edu/view.php?textID=MD.Balt.JHU.L.41 [4] Parkin, Tim, "Selected Older Individuals from Graeco-Roman Antiquity" (WWW: Self-published, 2002, 2006). http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/tim.parkin/oldancients.html [5] Turchin, Peter, "Rome: The Republican cycle (350–30 BCE)" (WWW: Self-published, no date). http://www.eeb.uconn.edu/people/turchin/PDF/7Republic.pdf [6] "Life of Septimus Severus" in _Historia Augusta_ (WWW: Bill Thayer, no date). http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Septimius_Severus*.html [7] "Life of Commodus" in _Historia Augusta_ (WWW: Bill Thayer, no date). http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Commodus*.html [8] "Commodus (AD 180 to 192)" (WWW: USASK.ca, no date). http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/coins/commodus.html [9] "Britannicus" (WWW: Wikipedia.org, 12 March 2007). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannicus [10] Hurley, Donna, "Britannicus" (WWW: Roman Emperors.org, 2004). http://www.roman-emperors.org/britty.htm