What's in a (Roman) Name?

A Roman man typically had three parts to his name:

• Praenomen - the personal name
• Nomen - the name of his gens, or tribe
• Cognomen - the family name

Some privileged Romans had an Agnomen, a fourth or even a fifth name.

For example:

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus (praenomen) Tullius (nomen - Tullius tribe) Cicero (cognomen - Cicero family)

Gaius Julius Caesar

Gaius (praenomen) Julius (nomen - Julius tribe) Caesar (cognomen - Caesar family)

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus

Publius (praenomen) Cornelius(nomen - Cornelius tribe) Scipio (cognomen - Scipio family) Africanus (agnomen - given for his military success in Africa) Aemilianus(another agnomen - adopted from the Aemilian tribe)

What's in Your Name?

My Roman Name Generator calculates the praenomen from your first name, the nomen from your last name, and the cognomen as a combination of both. If you want an agnomen, you'll have to do something noteworthy, like defeating Hannibal.

Please note that it is NOT a direct Latinization of your name, but it is NOT random. My name generator calculates the number values in each letter of your name to mathematically arrive at your unique Roman name.

Tribes

One type of name not addressed here, but often seen on inscriptions is the name of the voting tribe - a territorial designation used in earlier Rome for voting. The number of tribes grew to approximately 35. The tribes lessened in importance as the empire effectively eliminated the practice of voting.