Praenomen

The praenomen (Classical Latin, plural: praenomina, literally 'first name') in Ancient Rome corresponded to to the given name at present, being the only name in which the parents had a choice. As a rule, only the immediate family called a person by his praenomen.

It was a personal name given to a newborn male, after purifying him (lustrare), and it always coincided with that of one of his ancestors. For most of Roman history, women had no praenomen: girls were given their nomen, always coinciding with that of their family (gens ). Thus, the girls of the gens Iulia (Julia) were all called Julia, and Cornelia those of the gens Cornelia, even after their marriage. They could only add a cognomen that corresponded to a numeral to distinguish their position at birth: Prima, Secunda, Tertia,..., Minor.

Etymology

Praenomen is derived from the prefix prae- ("before") and nomen ("name&# 3. 4;). Proper name, prior to the name of the Romans.

Frequency and representation

Compared to other cultures, the Romans used a reduced set of names: the common praenomina numbered fewer than 40. The most common 17 represented 98% of all Roman male names. The three most popular - Lucius, Caius and Marcus - made up 59% of the total.

Many of the male praenomina were abbreviated to one or two characters in writing or inscriptions; most common abbreviations included: Appius (Ap.), Aulus (A.), Caius (C), Cnaeus (Cn.), Decimus (D.) Lucius (L.), Manius (M'.), Marcus (M.), Publius (P.), Quintus (Q.), Servius (Ser.), Sextus (Sex.), Spurius (Sp.), Titus (T.), Tiberius (Ti.).

For a time in the 3rd century, Aurelius became one of the most popular praenomina, after the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ("Caracalla") granted citizenship universal Roman name to all free men throughout the Empire, adopting the name of their emperor in gratitude.

The names Primus, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus, Octavus, Nonus, Decimus, respectively, "First, "Second,", "Third,", etc., were initially given according to the order of birth, although examples abound where such order was not followed.