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Naming conventions for women in ancient Rome differed from nomenclature for men, and practice changed dramatically from the Early Republic to the High Empire and then into Late Antiquity. Females were identified officially by the feminine of the family name (nomen gentile, that is, the gens name), which might be further differentiated by the genitive form of the father's cognomen, or for a married woman her husband's. Numerical adjectives might distinguish among sisters, such as Tertia, "the Third" (compare Generational titles in English names). By the late Republic, women also often adopted the feminine of their father's cognomen.
A woman kept her own family name after she married, though she might be identified in relation to her husband: the name Clodia Metelli, "Clodia [wife] of Metellus," preserves the birth name Clodia and adds her husband's name to specify which Clodia. Children usually took the father's name. In the Imperial period, however, children might sometimes make their mother's family name part of theirs, or even adopt it instead.[1]
- ^ Beryl Rawson, "The Roman Family," in The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives (Cornell University Press, 1986), p. 18.