you should check out RomabooRamblings who did a few things with roman names, both naming conventions and certain words which derived from people that lived in the ancient world :D
Just to add a related bit of name trivia, Octavius later called Gaius Julius Caesar (no, not that one) after his adoption, and Augustus after his defeat of Antony and Cleopatra (I believe, I'm not as familiar with this period) is referred by most historians as Octavian for his post adoption, pre imperial life. He was never actually called that, it's just a nickname we assignee to him by historians to differentiate him from Julius Caesar. Octavian (or Octavianus) is the equivalent of the past tense version of Octavius (I/he was Octavius)
What I recall reading was that after adoption they would add their original name as a cognomen. So, Caesar Augustus' full name after adoption was Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. That's what I remember reading about it at least.
Actually, his name was Gius Julius Caesar Octavianus after his adoption. The Octavianus signified that he'd been adopted. It's a legitimate part of his Roman name not something invented by historians. That said he changed names so many times in his life that historians have trouble referring to him in some way that is accurate but doesn't confuse their readers.
@@NerdyLlama21 Octavianus is not a verb, it's an adjective, which I believe all cognomen are (but I'm not positive). The -ianus suffix is used to derive and adjective from a noun.
Another famous cognomen is that of Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, whose prior cognomen before adopting Augustus and the one that stuck for longer was Caligula. Caligula roughly translates as "little boot" after the diminutive form of caliga, the roman military shoe. He got the name because he liked to tag along when his father went on military campaigns, wearing a child-sized version of the typical military uniform of the time, caligae and all.
I remember being surprised when I learned a few years or so ago that the Romans would have pronounced the "C" sound more like how we pronounce the "K" sound today. So Cicero probably sounded like Kikero. And Vini, vidi, vici probably sounded like Vini, vidi, viki. But I guess that K sound remained in German, since they used to call their leaders Kaisers.
yeah! a lot of latin names went through french where k sounds became s sounds or even sh sounds in certain contexts. that’s part of how english names for these figures has been changed from historical pronunciation. some languages make an effort to adapt their pronunciation directly from latin/greek and german is one of them
Ancient Chinese has: 1) A name, 2) a nickname used by family and friends. After age 20, males have a 2a) school name, used by teachers 2b) courtesy name used by coworkers and acquaintances, and new friends made after age 20 and 3) a name used when you get married.
4:31 I know it's a joke, but just for info: Caesar salad was purportedly invented by a mexican guy called César (a Spanish name derived from Caesar) in the mid-20th century, it just was mistranslated when it crossed the border north. 8:57 men too were property of their fathers (or grandfathers, if applicable); the only way to stop being the property of the _pater familias,_ or head of the house, (other than by him dying and you inheriting the position) was to be sold into slavery by him *thrice.*
@@lakrids-pibe still not Julius Caesar twenty hundred years ago. I may have to rewatch that episode of Tasting History, since, as you point, I have it a little bit fuzzy.
FUN FACT: There were two very important Roman historians BOTH NAMED "Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus" born a generation apart. To distinguish them, we English speakers simply refer to them as "Pliny the Elder" and "Pliny the Younger."
One of the bits of Final Fantasy XIV Online's worldbuilding I enjoy most is the Garlean Empire's naming conventions. They're modeled after the Roman Empire, most obvious in the Latin names of both their Garlean-born citizens and of their military units and ranks. The really neat part is that there is a forename and a surname, but in between, there is this middle name that indicates an individual's rank and profession -- feels a bit like cognomens, really, as that name can change during the course of a person's life, within certain limits. With one exception, these middle names form a system that rises in rank from "a" to "z" -- with _"aan"_ for slaves and other non-citizens of captured territories, all the way up to the _"zos"_ reserved for the Emperor (e.g. Solus zos Galvus). That exception is _"viator"_ ("traveller") -- for a former citizen who has been exiled.
FUN FACT: There were two very important Roman historians BOTH NAMED "Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus" born a generation apart. To distinguish them, we English speakers simply refer to them as "Pliny the Elder" and "Pliny the Younger."
Additionally, since I forgot to say earlier, Julius Caesar's sister Julia the Elder wasn't known as the Elder because she was older than him. Julius Caesar had two sisters in the Roman custom they were both named Julia. They were distinguished from each other by the older Julia being referred to as the Elder and the younger Julia being referred to as Julia the younger. Had there been three sisters they'd all have been called Julia and been referred to as Julia one, Julia two and Julia three.
3:20 this is somewhat similar to how in religious Judaism (at least the forms I am familiar with), baby boys are typically named 8 days after birth during their bris (a circumcision ceremony), and baby girls are named at some Torah reading after their birth
the Ceasar cognomen actually referred to a particularly popular meal among the Roman elites. it was white meat based dish sitting on a bed of greens with small vegetables such as chondrokatsari and sikyos hemeros. all this topped with a cream and egg based white dressed on top 👍
The very end of the video, when he said modern people should be thankful their embarassing childhood nickname didn't become the name they're known by, Caligula is the Roman that immediately leaped to my mind.
@@kittyprydekissme Right now, I'm reading "I, Claudius." He had a niece called Julia, but since the scandal invlving Augustus' daughter, it was considered an unlucky name. So the girl was nicknamed after her place of birth; Lesbia.
I think my cognomen would have either been Crassus or perhaps Buddhus. I was born really quite chubby and had the nickname "Buddha". I am unsure of whether Rome had contact with Buddhism so Crassus may have been the one, but if they did have contact, Latinising Buddha yields Buddhus.
It must have been super confusing when you had a lot of female relatives. Hello, I am Julius, this is my sister, Julia the Elder, my younger sister, Julia the younger, my daughter, Julia the elder, my younger daughter, Julia the middle, my youngest daughter, Julia the youngest. It's like with George Foreman.
I read that at the time of the end of the Republic, 50% of all men in Rome had one of these three Praenomen: Gaius, Lucius or Marcus. And many of the Praenomen shows just how much romans didn't actually bothered to choose a name for their children. Among the popular Praenomen were: Primus, Tertius, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus, Octavius, Decimus. Which translates to 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th. Then again, if you have a high infantile mortality rate, sometimes you just don't actually bother and you might have as only surviving son a guy named Septimus. The sad part about this is that the son would know exactly how many siblings died before him.
So the fourth emperor of Rome--if you read the books or saw the TV show, you know he's officially Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus--how did that work out? Was "Tiberius" his praenomen; "Claudius" his nomen; "Drusus" his cognomen; "Nero" his agnomen...or am I totally misreading this?
After the cognomen there are no clear rules any more because important people, especially emperors, could get multiple of those special names for military victories or other reasons. Like Germanicus, Britannicus, Africanus etc., all those place names usually refer to military victories of them or of their fathers. It's also really messed up under what name the emperors are referred to today. Some by honorific title (Augustus), some by praenomen (Tiberius, Titus), some by nomen (Claudius), some by cognomen (Vespasian, Hadrian) and some by nicknames that never fell into the naming system properly anyway (Caligula, Caracalla). And then you have the official tutelage the emperors themselves used on official documents (especially coins and inscriptions) which gets completely bonkers in the later stages where names and titles are mixed together, with nomens of earlier (ruling) families that get incorporated although the emperor in question is not even remotely related to that family. Just for appearances and propaganda. Think of the full title of Daenerys Targaryen in GoT.
Given the last point, I'm surprised you didn't bring up Caligula, which means "little boots" or "booties", which was an actual embarrassing childhood nickname, which he gained because he lived at camp with his mother and father on his father's military campaign and would walk around camp while dressed as a little Roman soldier
also fun fact when it came to women the 3 name rule didnt apply to them. they were simply known by their cognomen/family name. thats why juilius caesar's daughter was called just julia and marcus tullius cicero's daughter was called tullia
The classes in Romen were Patricians and Plebians. The term nobelus (nobles) simply means those who are know. It was used for all important people whether they were patricians or plebians.
Just as today the trailer of Gladiator II was realeased it is a good time to note that Maximus Decimus Meridius is a terrible name for a roman. I saw a video about it a long ago but to be fair and keep it short, in order to fix it you just have to rearrange it to Decimus Meridius Maximus.
@@RicardoGarcia-it4ln you think the writers were aware of this but thought it would be confusing for modern audiences? If so that's silly as well, people are fairly used to calling someone by their family name, esp in school and the military.
What would your cognomen be? I'd like to think mine would be Etymologicus or something lol.
my would be Janus/Cotton
Communismus
Uagantibus / uagantia - "wanderer" because I'm always wandering off and getting lost!
you should check out RomabooRamblings who did a few things with roman names, both naming conventions and certain words which derived from people that lived in the ancient world :D
Probably "Sciens" (knowledgeable), because I know all manner of random trivia about a wide variety of topics.
The evolution of the name Gaius in Portuguese is Caio and it's still a very common name in Brazil.
Just to add a related bit of name trivia, Octavius later called Gaius Julius Caesar (no, not that one) after his adoption, and Augustus after his defeat of Antony and Cleopatra (I believe, I'm not as familiar with this period) is referred by most historians as Octavian for his post adoption, pre imperial life. He was never actually called that, it's just a nickname we assignee to him by historians to differentiate him from Julius Caesar. Octavian (or Octavianus) is the equivalent of the past tense version of Octavius (I/he was Octavius)
What I recall reading was that after adoption they would add their original name as a cognomen. So, Caesar Augustus' full name after adoption was Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. That's what I remember reading about it at least.
His full name & title was:
Imperator Gaius Iulius Caesar Octauianus Augustus
Actually, his name was Gius Julius Caesar Octavianus after his adoption. The Octavianus signified that he'd been adopted. It's a legitimate part of his Roman name not something invented by historians. That said he changed names so many times in his life that historians have trouble referring to him in some way that is accurate but doesn't confuse their readers.
Did names have tenses? Or is it that the name was attached to the verb in the past tense?
@@NerdyLlama21 Octavianus is not a verb, it's an adjective, which I believe all cognomen are (but I'm not positive). The -ianus suffix is used to derive and adjective from a noun.
Another famous cognomen is that of Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, whose prior cognomen before adopting Augustus and the one that stuck for longer was Caligula. Caligula roughly translates as "little boot" after the diminutive form of caliga, the roman military shoe. He got the name because he liked to tag along when his father went on military campaigns, wearing a child-sized version of the typical military uniform of the time, caligae and all.
Germanicus does not mean from Germany, it means either he or a family member conquered Germany ^^
Not germany, a germanic people
I remember being surprised when I learned a few years or so ago that the Romans would have pronounced the "C" sound more like how we pronounce the "K" sound today. So Cicero probably sounded like Kikero. And Vini, vidi, vici probably sounded like Vini, vidi, viki. But I guess that K sound remained in German, since they used to call their leaders Kaisers.
yeah! a lot of latin names went through french where k sounds became s sounds or even sh sounds in certain contexts. that’s part of how english names for these figures has been changed from historical pronunciation. some languages make an effort to adapt their pronunciation directly from latin/greek and german is one of them
And don't forget that in Classical Latin the letter "v" was pronounced like an English "w".
Weyni Weedi Weeki
@@voodoolilium veni vidi vici = wane-y weedy weaky
It's also where Russians got their term czar. (Yes, also spelled tsar or tzar.)
The name "Caesar" even is the root for other european titles like the german "Kaiser" or the russian "Tsar".
Ancient Chinese has: 1) A name, 2) a nickname used by family and friends. After age 20, males have a 2a) school name, used by teachers 2b) courtesy name used by coworkers and acquaintances, and new friends made after age 20 and 3) a name used when you get married.
4:31 I know it's a joke, but just for info: Caesar salad was purportedly invented by a mexican guy called César (a Spanish name derived from Caesar) in the mid-20th century, it just was mistranslated when it crossed the border north.
8:57 men too were property of their fathers (or grandfathers, if applicable); the only way to stop being the property of the _pater familias,_ or head of the house, (other than by him dying and you inheriting the position) was to be sold into slavery by him *thrice.*
A guy who emigrated from Italy (Piedmont) to Mexico.
So his real name was italian: Cesare Cardini
@@lakrids-pibe still not Julius Caesar twenty hundred years ago. I may have to rewatch that episode of Tasting History, since, as you point, I have it a little bit fuzzy.
FUN FACT:
There were two very important Roman historians BOTH NAMED "Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus" born a generation apart.
To distinguish them, we English speakers simply refer to them as "Pliny the Elder" and "Pliny the Younger."
Thanks! This does provide helpful insight for James Tiberius Kirk ;)
One of the bits of Final Fantasy XIV Online's worldbuilding I enjoy most is the Garlean Empire's naming conventions. They're modeled after the Roman Empire, most obvious in the Latin names of both their Garlean-born citizens and of their military units and ranks. The really neat part is that there is a forename and a surname, but in between, there is this middle name that indicates an individual's rank and profession -- feels a bit like cognomens, really, as that name can change during the course of a person's life, within certain limits. With one exception, these middle names form a system that rises in rank from "a" to "z" -- with _"aan"_ for slaves and other non-citizens of captured territories, all the way up to the _"zos"_ reserved for the Emperor (e.g. Solus zos Galvus). That exception is _"viator"_ ("traveller") -- for a former citizen who has been exiled.
Just got the notification for this whilst on a holiday in Role
It sure is a shale that The Rolan Elpire fell.
FUN FACT:
There were two very important Roman historians BOTH NAMED "Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus" born a generation apart.
To distinguish them, we English speakers simply refer to them as "Pliny the Elder" and "Pliny the Younger."
Additionally, since I forgot to say earlier, Julius Caesar's sister Julia the Elder wasn't known as the Elder because she was older than him. Julius Caesar had two sisters in the Roman custom they were both named Julia. They were distinguished from each other by the older Julia being referred to as the Elder and the younger Julia being referred to as Julia the younger. Had there been three sisters they'd all have been called Julia and been referred to as Julia one, Julia two and Julia three.
Watching this video makes me hear your phonemes as "mellow fake Italian"
Ice-uh box-uh
😊😂
3:20 this is somewhat similar to how in religious Judaism (at least the forms I am familiar with), baby boys are typically named 8 days after birth during their bris (a circumcision ceremony), and baby girls are named at some Torah reading after their birth
Reminds me of how Old Germanic naming conventions were usually identifiers of someone.
It's got bugger all to do with names, but you should look into how Romans did multiplication.
the Ceasar cognomen actually referred to a particularly popular meal among the Roman elites. it was white meat based dish sitting on a bed of greens with small vegetables such as chondrokatsari and sikyos hemeros. all this topped with a cream and egg based white dressed on top 👍
I have a bottle Novus homo condimentum that works well with that dish
Erm what the signum
Signum Ohius
Caligula is a cognomen! it essentially means "little booties" :D
The very end of the video, when he said modern people should be thankful their embarassing childhood nickname didn't become the name they're known by, Caligula is the Roman that immediately leaped to my mind.
@@kittyprydekissme Right now, I'm reading "I, Claudius." He had a niece called Julia, but since the scandal invlving Augustus' daughter, it was considered an unlucky name. So the girl was nicknamed after her place of birth; Lesbia.
I think my cognomen would have either been Crassus or perhaps Buddhus. I was born really quite chubby and had the nickname "Buddha". I am unsure of whether Rome had contact with Buddhism so Crassus may have been the one, but if they did have contact, Latinising Buddha yields Buddhus.
It must have been super confusing when you had a lot of female relatives.
Hello, I am Julius, this is my sister, Julia the Elder, my younger sister, Julia the younger, my daughter, Julia the elder, my younger daughter, Julia the middle, my youngest daughter, Julia the youngest.
It's like with George Foreman.
I read that at the time of the end of the Republic, 50% of all men in Rome had one of these three Praenomen: Gaius, Lucius or Marcus.
And many of the Praenomen shows just how much romans didn't actually bothered to choose a name for their children. Among the popular Praenomen were: Primus, Tertius, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus, Octavius, Decimus.
Which translates to 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th.
Then again, if you have a high infantile mortality rate, sometimes you just don't actually bother and you might have as only surviving son a guy named Septimus.
The sad part about this is that the son would know exactly how many siblings died before him.
The nomen is the clan name. The cognomen specified a particular family within that clan.
8:33 elder and younger.... The Plinis😊
So the fourth emperor of Rome--if you read the books or saw the TV show, you know he's officially Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus--how did that work out? Was "Tiberius" his praenomen; "Claudius" his nomen; "Drusus" his cognomen; "Nero" his agnomen...or am I totally misreading this?
After the cognomen there are no clear rules any more because important people, especially emperors, could get multiple of those special names for military victories or other reasons. Like Germanicus, Britannicus, Africanus etc., all those place names usually refer to military victories of them or of their fathers.
It's also really messed up under what name the emperors are referred to today. Some by honorific title (Augustus), some by praenomen (Tiberius, Titus), some by nomen (Claudius), some by cognomen (Vespasian, Hadrian) and some by nicknames that never fell into the naming system properly anyway (Caligula, Caracalla).
And then you have the official tutelage the emperors themselves used on official documents (especially coins and inscriptions) which gets completely bonkers in the later stages where names and titles are mixed together, with nomens of earlier (ruling) families that get incorporated although the emperor in question is not even remotely related to that family. Just for appearances and propaganda. Think of the full title of Daenerys Targaryen in GoT.
Can you do a video about the greek naming system throughout history?
What about Pontius Pilate? What were his praenomen, nomen, and cognomnen?
Thanks, Ima name my kids like this 🤪
9:50 Unlike Emperor Caligula.
3:02 what do you mean the name Gaius isn't all that common;
It changed into: Guy, Gijs, Calliou and Gay ETC
Given the last point, I'm surprised you didn't bring up Caligula, which means "little boots" or "booties", which was an actual embarrassing childhood nickname, which he gained because he lived at camp with his mother and father on his father's military campaign and would walk around camp while dressed as a little Roman soldier
also fun fact when it came to women the 3 name rule didnt apply to them. they were simply known by their cognomen/family name. thats why juilius caesar's daughter was called just julia and marcus tullius cicero's daughter was called tullia
Perhaps not, both wives of Emperor Nero had two names: Claudia Octavia and Poppaea Sabina.
How did the parents choose the praenomen? Did the various possible praenomens have specific meanings (like a wish for the future child's personality?)
Many praenomen are just numbers. Secundus (2nd), Tertius (3rd), Quintus (5th), Sextus (6th), Ocatavius (8th), Decimus (10th).
😊😊😊
😊
Happy birthday 🎂🎉🎈🎊🎁
Happy birthday 🎁🎂🎉🎊🎈
FINALLY
SALVETE·OMNES
NOMEN·MIHI·LVCIVS·SILVIVS·VRSVLVS·EST
I wonder if Semronius brothers were at war with Celeronius brothers.
No, the Celeronius brothers worst enemies were the Aemdeous brothers...😅
So POTUS is a cognomen?
The classes in Romen were Patricians and Plebians. The term nobelus (nobles) simply means those who are know. It was used for all important people whether they were patricians or plebians.
The cognomen was no indicative of a single person the cognomen. Is a family name but to show descent from one person
England has done it too before last names became hereditary
Next, let's see Chinese naming conventions.
Just as today the trailer of Gladiator II was realeased it is a good time to note that Maximus Decimus Meridius is a terrible name for a roman. I saw a video about it a long ago but to be fair and keep it short, in order to fix it you just have to rearrange it to Decimus Meridius Maximus.
@@RicardoGarcia-it4ln you think the writers were aware of this but thought it would be confusing for modern audiences? If so that's silly as well, people are fairly used to calling someone by their family name, esp in school and the military.
Hey how's it going Chickpea.
❤😊😂😅😂😅
😊
@@mingfanzhang4600 #Islam
Happy birthday 🎉🎂🎈🎁🎊 day
Try to memorise the mediaeval Arab name they have 5 to 8 full name
HELLO
You mispronounce every single roman name
And that is ok
bruh not everyone studies latin
98th
I guess modern day cognomens are only really a thing for stage names? eg, Stefani Germannota Gaga