Not for a real baby! Roman Names?

[weegiemum]

My dd1 who is 10 is doing "The Romans" for her topic at school. Her project is to write a book about a Roman child and what their life was like. She needs names - for a girl, a baby sister, an older brother and Mum and Dad.

She doesn't like what I am coming out with (admittedly all I can think of is Julia, Camilla, Octavian, Marcus .... think that's about it) and wondered if anyone (especially those who did Latin at school) could come up with others.

And how do Roman family names work? There's a way sons are named after fathers I think but don't know.

I'll try here in names first and shift to Chat if no-one here knows!

[Bucharest]

www.behindthename.com/nmc/rom-anci.php

Here you go.

Some corkers here....

[weegiemum]

flip, is a praenomen a first name

[weegiemum]

I'm going to start suggesting some of these on baby names threads!!!

"no I don't like Chardonnay. Have you considered Aemiliana instead?"

[weegiemum]

Or Hortensia! I like Hortensia!

[frakkinaround]

Depending on when in Roman times you're looking...

Early on they were just known by their family name, so if they were the Balbinus family she would be Balbina, more than one and they were Balbina Major and Minor, then Balbina Tertia etc.

Then they started adding the feminine of the cognomen as well, so Balbinus Aurelius would have a daughter called Balbina Aurelia.

For boys it was:

Praenomen - often after the father, or uncle/other male relative for subsequent sons. Sometimes they ran out and just called them Quintus, Sixtus, Septus...
Nomen - the family name

And later....

The praenomen - first name - was the name the child was called.
The nomen - second name - was the family name
The cognomen - third name - was the branch of the family they were from, often the father's name.

By the time you get to the Imperial period girls got first names as well but it could be a feminine form of another relative, a completely random name or a feminised male name.

Augusta came about because they took it from their husbands' Augustus.

At least that's all I can remember. It was rather complicated and a while ago that I learnt it!

[weegiemum]

I think we are looking at imperial times as she has decided to set the family in Pompeii (though this is a historical project she is clearly the daughter of a Geography teacher )

Very complex. I think we'll just give everyone a "pranomen" and leave it at that. We're having enough trouble spelling "hypocaust" and then translating the whole thing into gaelic for school (historic enemies of the Romans - we should be reading Asterix instead!!)

[frakkinaround]

Ah well imperial times you name the father, let's call him Lucius Balbinus Aurelius, and the mother can just be referred to by her first name (Hortensia?!). Then the daughter can be any name you like, let's say Livia, then Balbina Aurelia. Older brother would be any name you like, might be Julius (common to name them after the current emperor), Balbinus Aurelius and baby sister again any name you like Balbina Aurelia.

-illa is a dimunitive so Livia might have a daughter called Livilla, Flavia goes to Flavilla etc. That's more likely to happen to the second daughter though.

Clear as mud?

The most common tribes I remember were the Julius, Junius, Aemilius, Claudius, Antonius and Domitius but there were lots of others.

[sparklyrainbow]

at geography teacher comment- I am one too!

Can't be any help at all but have learnt something this morning

[weegiemum]

Flip yes sparkly - I wish this was about river basins or Mt St Helens or Vesuvius or something ...... there is a distinct lack of 'proper' Geog at Primary School I fear! (well, certainly from the skills I have seen coming up to secondary - aaaargh at commas in the middle of map references for example!)

But I too have learnt something today and am glad of it !

[cloelia]

Here are some other thoughts:
melissa
metella
Laelia
Aurelia
Octavia
Lucia
Marcus
Quintus
Gnaeus
Lucius
Muciu s
Gaius
Caius
Horatius
and of course... Cloelia!

[weegiemum]

Now I want to get pg again and have twins called Mucius and Cloelia

[frakkinaround]

I personally quite like Clodius, or Clodia for a girl....

snorts in an unladylike fashion