In order to do so, he dropped the cognomen " Nero " which he had adopted as paterfamilias of the Claudii Nerones when his brother Germanicus was adopted out.

Some males had a cognomen that ends in-anus, which was adapted from and commemorated a nomen, sometimes their maternal family or — if they were adopted — their original paternal family.

It may also have been the case that some families used an agnomen in order to distinguish individuals, especially when there was a famous cognomen which they wanted all their sons to be able to bear.

The full form of a Roman name, used in official records, included the praenomen and nomen, followed by a " filiation ", the name of the voting tribe in which the person was enrolled, and finally the cognomen and agnomen, if any.

The name " chickpea " traces back through the French to, Latin for ‘ chickpea ’ ( from which the Roman cognomen Cicero was taken ).

* Quintus Caecilius Metellus conquers the Balearic Islands for Rome, for which he earns the cognomen " Balearicus.

His ancestors for three generations had been named Marcus Porcius, and it is said by Plutarch that at first he was known by the additional cognomen Priscus, but was afterwards called Cato — a word indicating that practical wisdom which is the result of natural sagacity, combined with experience of civil and political affairs.

The qualities implied in the word Cato were acknowledged by the plainer and less outdated title of Sapiens, by which he was so well known in his old age, that Cicero says, it became his virtual cognomen.

When Lothair died in December 1137, Henry's wealth and position made him a formidable candidate for the German crown, but the same qualities which earned him the cognomen of " the Proud ", aroused the jealousy of the princes and so prevented his election.

No distinct families of the Bruttii appear under the Republic, during which the only cognomen is Sura.

This included changing his name to that of the adopter, to which an additional cognomen was normally appended, in order to indicate either the clan or the family of his birth.

An oddity of the names by which these emperors are known today is that several of their ancestors bore the name Tiberius Claudius Nero ; of three emperors belonging to the same family, one is known by a praenomen, one by a nomen, and one by a cognomen.

The tria nomina, consisting of praenomen, nomen, and cognomen, which is today regarded as a distinguishing feature of Roman culture, first developed and spread throughout Italy in pre-Roman times.

Unlike the cognomen, which was generally regarded as an unofficial or informal name throughout the Republic, the praenomen was always part of a person's legal name, and so was recited on formal occasions and inscribed in public records.

However, the cognomen Medullinus, which belonged to the oldest branch of the gens, may indicate that the family came from the ancient Latin city of Medullia, which was conquered by Ancus Marcius, the fourth King of Rome, toward the end of the 7th century BC.

His relief of Messana obtained him the cognomen Messalla, which remained in the family for nearly 800 years.

Their emblem was an elephant, and their cognomen Alaudae came from the high crest on their helmets, typical of the Gauls, which made them look like larks.

The only cognomen found on coins is Saranus, which appears to be the same as Serranus.

In the later Empire, the distinction between praenomen, nomen, and cognomen was gradually lost, and Julius was treated much like a personal name, which it ultimately became.

The gens was always said to have descended from and been named after a mythical personage named Iulus or Iullus, even before he was asserted to be the son of Aeneas ; and it is entirely possible that Iulus was an ancient praenomen, which had fallen out of use by the early Republic, and was preserved as a cognomen by the eldest branch of the Julii.

If his name was really Longus, he was probably a freedman of some Roman family which bore that name as a cognomen.

The eldest branch of the Fabii bore the cognomen Vibulanus, which may allude to an ancestral home of the gens.

This may be less historical fact and more etiological myth, invented to explain the Servilian cognomen " Ahala "/" Axilla ", which means " armpit " and is probably of Etruscan origin.

On his accession, Niger took the additional cognomen Justus, or " the Just ".

Born Aulus Caecina Largus, upon his adoption by Publius Silius Nerva he took the unusual step of adding his adoptive praenomen and nomen to his birth name, instead of the usual tradition of taking the adoptive names and then adding the suffix-anus to his birth nomen to form a new cognomen.

The nomen, and later, cognomen were virtually always hereditary.

It was therefore necessary to use other names ( cognomen and later, agnomen ) to distinguish between individuals.

According to Suetonius, he was born with the praenomen Decimus, but it was later changed to Nero-an unusual example of using a second cognomen as a praenomen rather than an agnomen: " Nero " was a traditional cognomen of the Claudius family, whereas " Drusus " originally belonged to the Livius dynasty.

Her cognomen ' of Northampton ' is attached to her in Manuscript D of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in order to distinguish her from Emma of Normandy, and consequently adopted by later historians such as John of Worcester.

* Caesar ( also "" or " Nobilissimus Caesar "), " Caesar " or " Most Noble Caesar "; initially the mere cognomen of a single individual, it was transformed into a title ; an honorific name later used to identify an emperor-designate ;

If so, they were probably formed in the same way as diminutives, for the feminine form Agrippina later appears as a cognomen, just as the masculine forms of these praenomina were gradually revived as cognomina.

This was done partly by invention and partly by substitution of the cognomen Scipio for earlier ones of branches that later died out ...

The later members of this family, several of whom were distinguished in the arts, appear to have been his descendants, and must have taken their cognomen from this ancestor.

According to Mommsen, the story of the saving of the Capitol was a later invention to justify his cognomen, which may be better explained by his domicile.

It later moved to Macedonia, where it stayed from 30 BC to AD 6, gaining its cognomen, before moving to Oescus ( Moesia ).

The connection between the king and the mound was later reversed and the mound was named after the king, like the king had previously received his cognomen after the mound.

It is the first recorded account of Teach's appearance and is the source of his cognomen, Blackbeard.

However, there is debate as to whether the cognomen Barca ( meaning " thunderbolt ") was applied to Hamilcar alone or was hereditary within his family.

After his death he received the cognomen Cicero, after the Roman orator Cicero, but the elector's eloquence and interest in the arts is doubtful.

He is commonly known as Tarquin the Proud, from his cognomen Superbus, a Latin word meaning " proud, arrogant, lofty.

Tacitus refers to him as " Cilnius Maecenas "; it is possible that " Cilnius " was his mother's nomen-or that Maecenas was in fact a cognomen.

Cetius Faventinus speaks of " Vitruvius Polio aliique auctores " in his epitome ; it is possible that the cognomen derives from this mention by Cetius, meaning Vitruvius, Polio, and others – further confusing the cognomen, an inscription in Verona names Lucius Vitruvius Cordo and an inscription from Thilbilis North Africa ( near Guelma ) names Marcus Vitruvius Mamurra.

Antonius dies in office the same year and is awarded, posthumously with the cognomen Creticus.

His cognomen " Ironside " is not recorded until 1057, but may have been contemporary.

( It is possible that Drusus was originally given the cognomen traditionally belonging to his mother's family, because of the doubts-groundless as they have since proved to be-as to whether he was truly entitled to the cognomen of a man who may have been popularly believed to be not his father: at least the world knew who his mother was.

Brutus is the cognomen of the Roman gens Junia, a prominent family of the Roman Republic.

The name Brq ( or Baraq ) means " thunderbolt " in the Punic language and is thus equivalent to the epithet or cognomen Keraunos, common among many contemporary Greek commanders.

The cognomen Nobilior is not otherwise recorded before 255, long after the Samnite wars were over.

As a cognomen, Claudus is occasionally found in other gentes.

Paullus is a cognomen of ancient Rome, also appearing as an apparent praenomen of several Romans.