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The cognomen (plural: cognomina) was originally a middle name
Middle name

Many people's names include one or more middle names, placed between the first given name and the surname. In the Western world, a middle name is effectively a second given name....
 of a citizen of Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, under Roman naming conventions
Roman naming conventions

By the Roman Republic and throughout the Roman Empire, a name in ancient Rome for a male citizen consisted of three parts : praenomen , nomen and cognomen ....
. The cognomen started as a nickname
Nickname

A nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. Another class of nickname is the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, such as Bob, Bobby, Rob, Robbie, and Bert for Robert, more properly called a short name....
, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary (and thus more like a family name
Family name

A family name or last name is a type of surname and part of a personal name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world....
). Cognomen is derived from the prefix
Prefix

A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. The word "prefix" is itself made up of the stem fix , and the prefix pre- , both of which are derived from Latin root s....
 co- ("together with") and nomen ("name"). The term (with an Anglicized plural cognomens) has taken on a less specific meaning.

use of the limited nature of the Latin praenomen
Praenomen

In Roman naming conventions, the praenomen was the only name in which parents had some choice, roughly equivalent to the given name of today....
, the cognomen developed to distinguish branches of the family from one another, and occasionally, to highlight an individual's achievement, typically in warfare.






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The cognomen (plural: cognomina) was originally a middle name
Middle name

Many people's names include one or more middle names, placed between the first given name and the surname. In the Western world, a middle name is effectively a second given name....
 of a citizen of Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, under Roman naming conventions
Roman naming conventions

By the Roman Republic and throughout the Roman Empire, a name in ancient Rome for a male citizen consisted of three parts : praenomen , nomen and cognomen ....
. The cognomen started as a nickname
Nickname

A nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. Another class of nickname is the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, such as Bob, Bobby, Rob, Robbie, and Bert for Robert, more properly called a short name....
, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary (and thus more like a family name
Family name

A family name or last name is a type of surname and part of a personal name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world....
). Cognomen is derived from the prefix
Prefix

A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. The word "prefix" is itself made up of the stem fix , and the prefix pre- , both of which are derived from Latin root s....
 co- ("together with") and nomen ("name"). The term (with an Anglicized plural cognomens) has taken on a less specific meaning.

Historical usage

Because of the limited nature of the Latin praenomen
Praenomen

In Roman naming conventions, the praenomen was the only name in which parents had some choice, roughly equivalent to the given name of today....
, the cognomen developed to distinguish branches of the family from one another, and occasionally, to highlight an individual's achievement, typically in warfare. One example is Scipio Africanus Major, but some Romans – notably general
General

A General officer is an Officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is just called general....
 Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius was a Roman Republic general and politician elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic Marian Reforms of Roman legion, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens and reorganizing the structure of the legions into separate Cohort ....
 – had no cognomen at all. By the Late Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
, however, the use of cognomina even in daily conversation had become typical. In the early Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 we find the Annaean clan differentiating brothers solely by the cognomen: Lucius Annaeus Seneca Maior had three sons: L. Annaeus Novatus, L. Annaeus Seneca Minor and L. Annaeus Mela.

In contrast to the honorary cognomina adopted by successful generals, most cognomina were based on a physical or personality quirk; for example, Rufus meaning red-haired or Scaevola
Mucius

Gaius Mucius Scaevola was a noble and probably Roman mythology ancient Rome youth, famous for his bravery.When the Etruscan civilization king Lars Porsenna held Rome under siege, Gaius Mucius famously sneaked into the Etruscan camp and attempted to murder Porsenna....
 meaning left-handed.

The upper-class usually used the cognomen to refer to one another.

Today, we refer to many prominent ancient Romans by only their cognomen; for example, Cicero
Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Ancient Rome philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Constitution of the Roman Republic. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest rhetoric and prose stylists....
 (meaning "chickpea
Chickpea

The chickpea is an edible legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Chickpeas are high in protein and one of the earliest cultivated vegetables....
") serves as a shorthand for Marcus Tullius Cicero, and Caesar for Gaius Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
 (see Etymology of the name of Julius Caesar
Etymology of the name of Julius Caesar

The name Caesar probably originated from a dialect of Latium which did not share the rhotacism of the Roman dialect. Using the Latin alphabet as it existed in the day of Julius Caesar , Caesar's name is properly rendered GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR ....
).

General English-language usage

Cognomen (pluralized cognomens) has also been assimilated into English, and is used more generally (i.e. outside the context of Ancient Rome and Latin naming) as a catch-all term for moniker
Moniker

"Moniker" is another term for a "nickname", "pseudonym", or "cognomen."Typically, the title is used as a personal or professional name, instead of the person's given name, for works of art, music, books, or performances....
s, stage name
Stage name

A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, comedians, musician, and professional wrestling....
s, pen name
Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her writings, or for any of a number of...
s, aliases and other adopted (or commonly applied) nicknames or professional names.

See also