Back Cayo (praenomen) Spanish گایوس (نام کوچک) Persian Gaius (praenomen) Dutch Caio (prenome) Portuguese Гай (римское имя) Russian Гай (преномен) Ukrainian
Gaius (/ˈɡaɪəs/) is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, and was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Gaia.[1] The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Gavia. The name was regularly abbreviated C., based on the original spelling, Caius, which dates from the period before the letters "C" and "G" were differentiated. Inverted, Ɔ. stood for the feminine, Gaia.[2][3][4][5]
Throughout Roman history, Gaius was generally the second-most common praenomen, following only Lucius. Although many prominent families did not use it at all, it was so widely distributed amongst all social classes that Gaius became a generic name for any man, and Gaia for any woman. A familiar Roman wedding ceremony included the words, spoken by the bride, ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia ("as you are Gaius, I am Gaia"), to which the bridegroom replied, ubi tu Gaia, ego Gaius.[3][6][1][7] The name survived the collapse of the Western Empire in the fifth century, and continued into modern times.
- ^ a b Chase, pp. 174–176.
- ^ Liber de Praenominibus.
- ^ a b Quintilian, Institutes, i. 7. § 28.
- ^ "Nomen" in Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, pp. 1101–1103.
- ^ Kajava, Roman Female Praenomina, pp. 38–40, 109, 110.
- ^ Plutarch, "Quaestiones Romanae", 30.
- ^ Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, p. 1016 ("Matrimonium").