Skip to main content

Roman Names- Part 1

One of the first things that comes to mind when pondering the life of a woman in Rome is "What would my name have been?" Let's start with a list of known names for women:-
Aemilia
Agrippina
Antonia
Aquilia
Artemis
Atia
Balba
Caecilia
Caenis
Caesonia
Calatoria
Clodia (Claudia)
Cloelia
Corintha
Cornelia
Domitia
Domna
Drusilla
Epicharis
Fulvia
Galla
Graecina
Hortensia
Iris
Julia
Lepida
Lesbia
Licinia
Livia
Livilla
Longina
Lucilla
Lucretia
Maesa
Marcella
Matella
Megallis
Messalina
Metrodora
Murcia
Octavia
Paulina
Placidia
Plautia
Politta
Pomponia
Poppaea
Procula
Publilia
Pulchra
Sabina
Scribonia
Servilia
Severa
Themis
Urgulanilla
Valeria
Vipsania

This is, of course, an incomplete list, and we can never know the names of all those who went unrecorded on monuments, epitaphs, or in legal records. With only 58 to choose from it is limiting, but not only could a woman have a first name, but often two names were combined, especially in the later part of the Roman era; as in Poppaea Sabina. For my part I think I would choose Aquilia Galla. As for what we would call the surname, we'll look at that next time.

Comments

  1. In my first latin class I was called Caecillia, my best friend was Flavia. Love latin names!

    ReplyDelete
  2. They do have a certain ring to them, don't they? Caecillia is a great name, did you know that it is related to the word "blind"?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Italian Renaissance Hairstyles

In keeping with my last post on Italian Renaissance costume I thought we would take a look at something we didn't touch much on; hairstyles. They were extremely varying; up and down, braided, netted, entwined with silks and ribbons, even pearls, and, of course, dyed, bleached, and curled. The only thing in somewhat short supply seems to be hats, and really who would want to cover up what you had spent so much time constructing? "Do you have any idea how long it took me to get the curls placed?!" 1544 Portrait of Laura da Pola by Lotto Occasionally a small cap, or scuffia, was worn either with side curls, or with most of the hair stuffed up underneathe:- 1490 portrait by Ghirlandaio 1502 Betrothal 1510 Portrait by Araldi Another notable hair decoration was the reta, or hairnet. Some of these were beaded, some woven in decorative patterns, and some left very simple. 1505-1508 Siena 1545 Lavinia Under and around these ornamentations, o

The De Berry Project- The Fabric and shoes

As I mentioned last time I am working on a version of the outfit to the left for an event coming up soon in July. I wanted something with a hat to shade my face, and not too hot since we are going to be outside in the middle of a Virginian summer. The fabric gods were not kind, when I went to my local fabric stores. There was really nothing in the right weight, color, pattern, fiber, or amount; especially the amount since I need about 8 yards for the undergown and 10 yards for the overdress. Part of the problem is that there are no waist seams, so each piece has to be cut from a long continuous length of material. Also, those sleeves are about four yards by themselves. I resigned myself to ordering online, which I hate doing because it's so hard to be sure of the color etc without seeing it in person, and by the time the fabric arrives often there just isn't time to send it back and get something else. I went first to an oldie, but a goodie; Thai silks. I knew they would

How Our Ancestors Slept

As someone who wakes up during the night feeling frustratingly refreshed...and then struggles to rise in the morning, I found this article to be a kind of vindication. Apparently the way we sleep has changed. For more information you can visit the link here .