The Roman Name Game
 

Ahhhhh, What's in a name? 

At least for Romans...it gets complicated.

We always laughed at Grandma when she read fella's name that ended with I, II, or IV. She would have said it John One-eye. John Two-eye, or John Eye-Vee. She didn't bother with Latin. But now that I've played with the Romans, I think understand why she did it. And  where this 'One-eye' thing comes from. 

I'm going to start with the hero of my Red Fury series. Gnaeus Julius Agricola.  His full legal name is  

 Gnaeus Julius Luci filius Aniensis Agricola Foror Julii. 

Gnaeus is his forename/praenomen. 

 His family name/cognomen is Julius.

 Luci was his father's forename/ Lucius.  

His nickname/cognomen was Agricola meaning 'farmer.'

His voting tribe was Aniensis.   

He was born in the Forum Julii.

But we'll call him 

Gnaeus Julius Agricola

 since that was his formal name.

When meeting and introducing, Romans used the full proper name. Gnaeus Julius Agricola or they simplified it to Julius Agricola  during casual discussions.

He was only called by Gnaeus by his family and his wife...and only after being married. Not before.

If you did use his personal name and were not married to him or related, you were considered rude and disrespectful. And proper Romans honored respect.

Now here comes the issue as a writer and gets really complicated.

Both of his sons were named

Gnaeus Julius Agricola. 

Both of them or, no matter if it were all six of sons, all of the sons took their father's name.

(But, Julius only had two)

Now, think how this works out if you are writing a scene with both father and sons are talking. How do you keep them apart? Yeah. that is the question. 

Julius had a daughter. 

 She married Cornelius Tacitus who didn't bother to mention her in his histories, so we can presume her name was

Julia

Daughters kept their father's name however in the feminine form of an 'a' usually.

Julius/Julia. Valerius/Valeria. , Lucius/Lucia. Aelius/Aelia

And if there were more than one daughter...

 there was 'Julia Prima', "Julia Secunda" and so on. 

And she didn't change her name to her husband's, but kept her father's name

Gnaea Julia Agricola

Now, add her voice to her brother and father's conversation and, if I stayed 'proper,"  I would have the poor reader going bonkers. Trust me I really tried to keep it simple.

 

I used 'Younger' and 'Elder' some as in 'Pliny the Younger,' adopted nephew of 'Pliny the Elder'.  This is fine with one son on board. In Vows of Revenge I have the elder Cassius Julius Gullus and the younger Cassius Julius Gullus. Gullus meaning 'rooster. 'But two sons? Yikes! Fortunately, there was only one son to deal with and that was enough.

So I have to break rules  and allot nicknames as I did with 'Nonia Rosa' who is referred to in Threatened Loyalties as' Rosa.' Unless she's in trouble. And she did have an older sister named 'Nonia Prima' but she wasn't in the book much.  Rosa's brother was 'Marcus Nonius Balbus' but I called him improperly as 'Marcus.' Her father Marcus Nonius Balbus was called 'Balbus' because that was what the research books called him. However, if I did have to introduce the father it was 'Marcus Nonius Balbus'. Balbus meaning 'stutterer'. But he doesn't stutter. Well Marcus pretends to stutter...Marcus the son does, I mean...the younger Nonius. You know the Younger Marcus Nonius Balbus....

Nuts isn't it? I still don't think I've  mastered this Roman name game, but I'm appreciating Grandma's idea of 'One eye' and Eye-Vee.

Available Amazon...September 2012  At last!!!!!

Judy Ridgley
My website: http://www.jfridgley.comRPride website http://www.rpridepublishing.com

My blog- Writer's Riding Right: http://www.jridgley.wordpress.comMy Roman blog- http://www.juliagaleriacasca.wordpress.comDreamin' blog- http://www.rpridepublishing.wordpress.com

Choosing The Right Name by Vivienne Westlake

One of the first things I do when creating a story is to give a character their name. Usually, it's the first name, though in my Regencies and Victorian books, I often do think of the last name and title of my hero. I can't get into the book if I don't have a sense of the names and faces of my primary characters.

Occasionally, I make up a last name, but most of the time I like to look up a surname or title and see if it exists at House of Names. You can find many British, Irish, and French surnames listed here as well as their histories. I find it interesting to see the family crests, mottos, and origins of surnames. Sometimes reading these can spark an idea or give me confirmation about a sense of character. Most of the time, I use it to confirm that the name existed during the period I'm using it.

When looking up first names, I often consult several baby books. I prefer books that list the history of a name (some books will tell you famous people over the centuries who bore that name or tell you if the name originated from a book or play). But, there are two websites I do like to consult to look at the history of a name:

Behind the Name gives the etymology of first names and allows you to search by name or by the country of origin. It also includes names from the Bible and Ancient Mythology. This is useful for me when I want to find a name that a name fits a particular location or time period.

Baby Name Wizard has a fun tool that shows you the popularity of a name over different decades. While it only goes as far back as the 1880s, I find it useful to see whether a name is a more modern invention or whether a name would have been common in the 19th century.

I tend to pour through books and websites just to find the right name. Sometimes, I get a name right away and it sticks, such as Delphine Sharpe, the heroine in The Captain's Wicked Caress (and the sister to Lady Rowena Northam, the heroine in my first book). Other times, it takes me a day or two to figure out the right name.

I find I am drawn to names beginning with certain letters (A and E are my favorites). For some reason, in my Regency series, I keep choosing names that start with the letter R and I've had to rename some characters to avoid confusion.

What is your favorite name for a hero or heroine? Do you find you respond better to a hero if he has a strong sounding name? Would you be put off if the hero had a boring name like Chuck or Stanley? What about an antiquated one like Delbert?