agnomen
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An agnomen (; : agnomina), in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the cognomen had been initially. However, the cognomina eventually became family names, and so agnomina were needed to distinguish between similarly-named persons. However, as the agnomen was an additional and optional component in a Roman name, not all Romans had an agnomen.
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Article
5 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Caligula
- Comparison with pseudonyms
- See also
- References
An agnomen (; : agnomina), in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the cognomen had been initially. However, the cognomina eventually became family names, and so agnomina were needed to distinguish between similarly-named persons. However, as the agnomen was an additional and optional component in a Roman name, not all Romans had an agnomen.
Pseudo-Probus uses the hero of the Punic Wars, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, as an example: