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Geni naming conventions - Ancient Rome
Roman names can be confusing because they do not follow modern European and American naming customs. As a general rule of thumb, the Roman surname is the second of three names, not the third. Geni's name fields do not yet handle Roman names effectively. The most effective workaround is to place all names in the First Name field. Leaving the Middle Name and Last Name field blank helps prevent erroneous merges.
- The classic Roman name was the trianomina. That is, Roman men had three names. The first name (praenomen) was a given name. The second name (nomen) was the family name. The third name (cognomen) was originally a nickname, but became hereditary. This third name was the name by which men were known.
- Using Gaius Julius Caesar as an example:
- Gaius was his given name
- Julius was his family name (surname)
- Caesar was the name by which he was known
- Roman women were generally known only by one name, the feminine form of the family's nomen. For example, the daughter of Gaius Julius Caesar was Julia.
This is a brief overview of a complex subject. For a simple introduction to Roman names, see Wikipedia, Roman naming conventions.