Praenomen

The praenomen (plural praenomina) was the ancient Roman given name. With a nomen and a cognomen it formed a complete Roman name during the days of the Republic and early Empire. By the 2nd century, praenomina were no longer commonly used.

There were relatively few praenomina in common use. They are listed in the following table. In Roman documents the praenomen was often abbreviated to one or two letters, also shown below.

PraenomenAbbrev.Notes
Amulius  
AppiusAp.used by gens Claudia
Camillus used by gentes Furia and Arruntia
DeciusD.used by gens Minatia
DecimusD."tenth"
Drusus  
Flavius  
Gaius or CaiusC. 
Gnaeus or CnaeusCn. 
LuciusL. 
MarcusM. 
Postumus  
PubliusP. 
QuintusQ. or Qu."fifth"
Secundus "second"
SeptimusSept."seventh"
SextusSex."sixth"
SpuriusSp."sixth"
Tertius "third"
TiberiusTi. 
TitusT.