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[Opinions] Roman Names
by Wunderkind_Princess
3/23/2006, 5:29 PM
I'm writing a series on Jewish girls and there are a couple of Roman families in the series. There is a centurion and then there is a wealthy family with a father, mother, son, and two daughters (the son is the eldest). I need a praenomen, nomen, and cognomen for each person. Any ideas?Also, did any wealthy Roman families live in Jerusalem during the reign of Claudius?~ Wunderkind_Princess
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- Night Blossom   +1
3/24/2006, 11:39 AM
Luna. You can't go wrong with Luna. Although she's a Roman goddess, could get confusing, and I don't know if the Romans named their children after gods, sooo...Just stick with Felicia. And Felix.(Btw, Felix means wealthy, and Felicia is just the female variant.)
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- Miranda (Randee15)
3/24/2006, 1:39 PM
Romans did name after gods/goddessesThey just didn't usually use the actual god's name, and the practice overall was comparatively rare. Some examples:
Marcus / Marcellus / Marcia / Marcella - Derived from Mars
Marius / Marianus / Marinus / Marinus / Maria (conceivably) / Mariana - Also derived from Mars
Martinus / Martina - Again derived from Mars, who was evidently a very worthy god to name your kid after!
Deodatus / Deodata - BtN says this means "given to God", but I suspect this originally meant "given to a god"
Dionysius / Dionysia - Dionysos was the Greek God of Wine, known as Bacchus to the Romans
Herminius / Herminia - Derived from Hermes, aka Mercury to the Romans
Junia - Possibly derived from Juno, Roman Goddess of Marriage
Saturnus / Saturna / Saturninus / Saturnina - Derived from the god Saturn, obviously
Amadeus / Amadea - BtN lists "love of God" as this name's meaning, but like Deodatus it could've originally meant "love of a god". However, BtN says Amadeus was used in the Late Roman period only--while I've read Amadeus was understandably popular amongst early Christians, I don't know if non-Christian Romans also used the name
Miranda
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