Names and Naming Practices of Regal and Republican Rome - Prænomen and Nomen

By Meradudd Cethin, copyright 2005

NOTA BENE - Using this list of names is quite different than one would normally do. This is due to the extreme lingual conservancy of the Roman people, especially during the Republican era. With a single exception (the Prænomen Vopiscus), all of the Prænomen are suitable for usage throughout the Republican period. As such, I have not bothered to date the prænomen.

Further, given that the patrician family lines continued (and proliferated) throughout most the Republican period AND the Consul position is the highest position in Republican Rome, attempting to apply the temporal restrictions to a Republican Roman name will NOT work. There are multiple examples of a name element being seen with over 300 years between instances. Due to the natural lingual conservancy of the Romans during the Republican period combined with the relatively small sample size (1100 or so names generating 147 nomen, 219 cognomen and 100 or so agnomen), the lists below can be used in a 'chinese menu' style for SCA purposes. The nomen, cognomen and agnomen have two dates after each name, being the first and last instance of their mention in Livy. Finally, all dates are BCE.

Prænomen

The bold names are the most common 16 names (which have the standard abbreviations used in roman inscriptions following them). G. and Gn. are sometimes seen as C. and Cn. in anglicized sources. The Prænomen Vopiscus has a single dated instance of 463 BCE and died out early. Vibius (V) is cited in Benet as a seventeenth common prænomen, but is not seen in the consul list.

Nomen