#roman names

[theromaboo]

The Third Day of Julius Caesar

What was Julius Caesar's *real name*?

People often think that Caesar's name is just Julius Caesar, nothing more nothing less. His first name is Julius and his last name is Caesar. And that makes sense in a culture in which Julius is a valid first name.

But was Julius a valid first name in the time of Julius Caesar?

Usually not!

Generally, Roman men at the time of Julius Caesar had to have at least two names, a praenomen and a nomen. A praenomen is like your first name, your given name. A nomen is like your family name, it showed which gens (your extended family) you belonged to, and it usually ended with an -ius (like Claudius, Valerius, Vipsanius, Vergilius, Flavius and... Julius!)

There was a third type of name, called a cognomen. It was like a legal nickname, or it could also be a name that showed which branch of your gens you belonged to. Not all Roman men had one (such as Marc Antony!), but many did, including Caesar.

Generally, the order was like so: praenomen, nomen, and cognomen (fun fact: Maximus Decimus Meridius probably should've been Decimus Meridius Maximus. But who can trust Gladiator to be accurate?).

So we know Caesar's nomen, Julius. And we know his cognomen, Caesar. Wait, what about his praenomen? He needs one!

Julius Caesar actually had three names; we just don't usually call him by his first name. His full name is Gaius Julius Caesar. His father's name was also Gaius Julius Caesar, and his father's, and his father's! (but Julius Caesar's great great grandfather's name was actually Sextus Julius Caesar)

So yeah, Julius was not Caesar's first name.

I've met a few people who say "Actually, no. Julius Caesar's *real name* was Caius Julius Caesar with a C instead of a G!"

Nope!

The reason we sometimes see Caius for Gaius (and why Gaius was abbreviated as C.) wasn't because Gaius was actually Caius or the ancient Romans pronounced Gaius like Caius. It's because in earlier Roman history, those poor guys didn't have the letter G! They had C, K, and Q (which all made the exact same sound) but they didn't have G. They had to spell Gaius with a C and they had to abbreviate Gaius with a C because they had no G.

This was because the Latin alphabet came from the Etruscan alphabet, and Estruscan didn't have a distinction between the C and G sounds and therefore they didn't need two separate letters. Latin, meanwhile, did have a distinction and did desperately need two letters.

Anyway, Romans later got the letter G and then they could write all your favorite G words, like Gay and Gaius. They still commonly abbreviated Gaius as C. because old habits die hard.

If you say that we should write Gaius as Caius because that's the original way to spell it, you might as well say we should write Gaius as CAIVS. Don't cherry pick your archaisms!

[queen-of-wisdom]

Names I'd like to have more in media for metaphorical reasons

Disclaimer: I'm doing this out of the back of my head, so don't come after me. I'm not an expert in anything and I might have a different interpretation of the story. Do your own research.

Eve/ Eva/ Ewa

Christian/Jewish

The first human woman, she was banished from paradise because she was curious.

For those who were punished for curiosity

2. Adam/ Edim/ Edam

Christian/ Jewish

The first human man, he was banished from paradise because he trusted Eve

For those who blindly trusted the ones they love

3. Pandora

Greek

The first human (woman), she was gifted with a jar, that she was told to never open. She did it anyways (because she was so curious what is in the jar) and released all bad spirits (violence, war, famine, illnesses etc.) onto this world. She now has to guard the jar, which contains only one spirit: Hope

For those who brought evil into this world, without meaning to

For those who bring hope

4. Seth

Egyptian

Everyone hated Seth because he was the god of the dessert. So he killed his brother Osiris (the current king) to get the throne, the rule over the people who ignored him all those years.

For those who were always dismissed

For those who gave themself justice (or revenge)

5. Gnowee

Wotjobaluk (Native Australian)

Personification of the sun. She once was a mortal woman, who lived in darkness on earth and people only could move with the aid of bark torches. One day she left her little son sleeping while she tried to look for food. As she tried to go back, she couldn't find her son. So she climbed the sky to look for him, but she will never find him.

For those who never give up

For those who will do everything for their children

6. Israel

Jewish

His "Christian" old name was Jacob. He went to the desert, fought against God and won. So he got a new name (Israel) wich means: He who fought God

For those who fight against something bigger than themself

7. Hestia

Greek

She is the oldest Olympian Godess and the Godess of family. Her siblings all have petty (all of time), but she always tries to negotiate between her family

For those who are for peace

8. Romolus

Roman

He founded Rome with his brother Remus. When Remus did something against Roman Law, Romolus killed his own twin.

For those who are so obsessed with rules that they sign their own doom

9. Lorelei

German

She was like a siren but kind of different. Lorelei was the daughter of a river (the Rhein, if I remember correctly) and always sat naked at her father's side, because he promised to protect her or sm. So when sailors saw the beautiful Lorelei and wanted to get to her, her father Rhein always drowned said sailors.

For those who get a lot of bullshit from men

Those who don't do anything wrong, but always get wronged

10. Atlas

Greek/Roman

He is forced to carry the sky until eternity.

For those who are doomed with a task that will ultimately destroy them

I may do a part two in the future. Stay tuned.

[theromaboo]

Elagabalus' certainly had zero control over her regnal name. She was like 13 or 14 when her grandmother put her on the throne by saying that she was the illegitimate son of Caracalla. And to strengthen the connection and legitimacy, of course Elagabalus had to get the name Caracalla had, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

I kind of messed up a little when it came to the regnal name. Elagabalus' full regnal name was actually Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, with all of that Imperator Caesar Augustus stuff. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was just Elagabalus' new name, but not the full regnal name. My bad!

When it comes to regnal names for Roman emperors in general, it was often very dependant on what names the person was born with, what names their predecessors had, what names they got in the life. It wasn't necessarily that someone else was always imposing a regnal name onto the emperor, but generally an emperor wouldn't just make up names for a regnal name. Usually the names would be coming from somewhere.

I hope I managed to answer your question!

I bring you… my silly little comics. Saw a tik tok this morning about British Museum recognizing emperor Elagabalus as a trans woman 🏳️‍⚧️, and I just had to draw this.

[babynames-a-z]

May

Name meaning: The fifth month of the year

Name Origin: English, Roman, Sanskrit

Nicknames: Mimi, May-May,

[daisychains111]

Thalia doesn’t keep many things in the hundreds of years she’s been alive. 

But long ago, there were people, their names all but distant memories, who mattered in her 1st lifetime. It’s their things that stay hidden in her bag, reminding her of her mortal life. 

A blue hoodie, worn almost threadbare. The scent of its original owner, long since leached from the fabric. But if she closes her eyes, she can almost see the blue eyes of her first and only love. 

A pair of glasses. Frames cracked and crooked. A reminder of a brother she never got to truly know. 

A baseball cap. It’s magic long faded, branded with a forgotten logo. Memories of a blonde girl laughing hidden deep within. 

A letter. Ink fading, paper yellow. The last words of a dying friend. Words that wish her well, words that wished her well in a world they had fought side by side to save. 

Thalia doesn’t keep a lot of things, but even after all this time, Luke, Jason, Annabeth, and Percy will stay with her forever. The memories of her first family to remind her why life is so beautiful.

[solarg0blin]

Ego, Miettam leviter pedis latere tangens: Mietta, movere, ne in te incurram

Mietta, oculis magnis: tu Miettae calcem IMPINGIS? illius corpori sicut folli calcem impingis?! eheu! eheu! In carcerem Mater conjiciatur! In carcerem in Mille Annos conjiciatur!!!!

Millions of thanks to @alda-rana for a much, much better translation

[romans-art]

save me, crossdressing milkman Joan Fontaine. crossdressing milkman Joan Fontaine save me.

[thepastelpeach]

alright fuck it, women

thanks for the input! i have a few more design choices for the other sides but here are the main changes, fem!roman and fem!janus!!

here's the post that inspired this sassy interaction!!

[tumatawa]

[touchlikethesun]

the naming of hunger games characters is absolutely masterful. each one could have a whole page written about it, and tho i can't say anything that hasn't already been pointed out a million times, i do want to highlight one generality. most of the names in the districts are one of two things: common words (altered or not) to become names, often in line with their district's culture (Gloss, Thresh), or phonetic shifts of contemporary common names (peeta being derived from peter). this suggests, without changing how the characters speak, the idea of linguistic evolution, which in turn is representative of change and of local cultural. the districts are a people in dialogue and evolution with one another. and now compare this with the names of those in the capitol. off the top of my head i think of Plutarch, Coriolanus, Flavius, fucking Caesar. these are, one, roman names, which further serves to reinforce the comparison between the capitol and rome and all that entails, but these roman names, names that have been etched in stone and unchanged for millennia, are a stark contrast with the alive and dynamic names of the districts. it's just another (not so) subtle way that collins reminds us of the differences and the values of the capitol versus the districts.

[canisalbus]

✦ Dies Veneris ✦

[theromaboo]

Guys, I've found it. My favourite Roman name.

Look at that alliteration! And the entire full name has only six unique letters: L, U, C, I, S, and N, which makes it feel so clean! This dude is the only Roman with a fortunate name.

[thoodleoo]

imagine the "hi, barbie!" scene from the barbie movie but it's julius caesar in the forum going "ave, gaius!" to all the other people named gaius in rome

[somewhereincairparavel]

Gentle Violent reminder that the last thing Caligula heard, as he got killed by Frank was "Jason Grace".

[nicoriice]

the scrunklies

inspired by that one trending template

[foone]

The annoying thing about coming out as a roman trans woman is that I have to rename both my sisters.

See, my dad is named Bill. And I'm the oldest of his children. Since I'm AMAB, I would have been given two names, maybe three (praenomen, nomen, and cognomen).

But when my sister was born, she'd not get a name. She'd just be named the female version of her father's name: Bill is from William, which was Gulielmus. So... She's Gulielma.

But then my younger sister is born! We can't call her Gulielma too, right?

YES WE CAN. She's now Gulielma Minor, and the older sister is Gulielma Maior (That would be "major", but Latin doesn't have a "j").

BUT THEN I COME OUT AS TRANS.

I'm now the Oldest Daughter of Bill! So now I'm Gulielma Maior, not the older of my two sisters! She's renamed to Gulielma Minor.

And my youngest sister? She's now Gulielma Tertia: Billy's girl #3.

This is a mess. Clearly the ancient romans were transphobic with their naming schemes.

To clarify the name changing:

Me (unknown two names, like Publius Balonius) -> Gulielma Maior

Gulielma Maior (The older of my two younger sisters) -> Gulielma Minor

Gulielma Minor (the younger of my two younger sisters) -> Gulielma Tertia