Roman name generator

Authentic Latin names for historical fiction, Rome: Total War campaigns, D&D, reenactment and Latin class projects. Describe the character and get a full tria nomina that sounds like it was carved on a tombstone on the Appian Way.

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90+ Roman name ideas

  • Gaius Fabius Strabo
  • Marcus Aemilius Longus
  • Lucius Valerius Calvus
  • Publius Sulpicius Barbatus
  • Quintus Manlius Rufus

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Roman names built the way Romans built them

A Roman citizen's name was a small legal document. The praenomen was the personal name, picked from a list of roughly eighteen. The nomen marked the gens, the clan: Julius, Cornelius, Valerius. The cognomen named the branch of the family and often began as a nickname, which is why Rome's most famous orator was called Cicero, chickpea. This generator follows those rules for historical fiction, Rome: Total War and Ryse campaigns, D&D settings with a Roman flavor, reenactment personas and sci-fi empires modeled on the Imperium.

Tell it who the character is: a patrician senator's second daughter, a legionary from a plebeian family in Gaul, a freedman running his former master's shop, a gladiator who fights as a murmillo. Ask for a full name and you get a praenomen, nomen and cognomen, or the matching form for a woman, freedman or arena fighter, with a short note on what the cognomen means.

  • Full tria nomina

    Praenomen, nomen and cognomen in the right order and the right forms. Praenomina come from the short list Romans actually used, and nomina keep the -ius ending that marks a gens.

  • Cognomina with meanings

    Romans were blunt about nicknames: Naso for a big nose, Calvus for a bald man, Balbus for a stammerer. Each cognomen comes with its meaning, so the name can carry a scrap of backstory.

  • Women, freedmen and gladiators

    Women took the feminine of the family nomen, freedmen took their former master's names, and gladiators fought under stage names. Ask for any of these and the generator follows the matching convention.

5 tips for naming a Roman character

  1. Pick the praenomen from the real list

    Romans used only about eighteen first names: Gaius, Lucius, Marcus, Publius, Quintus, Titus, Gnaeus, Sextus, Aulus, Decimus and a handful more. Inventing a new one breaks the illusion fast. Families also reused them, so an eldest son often carried his father's praenomen.

  2. Treat the nomen as inherited

    Nobody chose their nomen. It came from the gens and ended in -ius for men: Cornelius, Fabius, Aemilius. If your character belongs to a family, every male relative shares that nomen. Change the cognomen to show a separate branch, not the nomen.

  3. Let the cognomen be a little rude

    Many cognomina started as nicknames about the body or character: Strabo (squint-eyed), Crassus (fat), Brutus (dull). Families kept them for generations without embarrassment. An unflattering cognomen reads as more authentic than a heroic one.

  4. Name women by family and birth order

    A daughter of the Cornelii was Cornelia, and so was her sister. Romans told them apart with Major and Minor, or Prima, Secunda and Tertia for larger families. Octavia Minor, sister of Augustus, is the standard example.

  5. Match names to social status

    A freed slave took his former master's praenomen and nomen and kept his old name as a cognomen: Cicero's secretary Tiro became Marcus Tullius Tiro. Slaves had a single name, often Greek. Auxiliary soldiers granted citizenship often took the reigning emperor's nomen.

Want names made for yours? Describe what you're naming and Nomi finds names that fit.

Frequently asked questions

The tria nomina: praenomen, nomen and cognomen. In Gaius Julius Caesar, Gaius is the personal name, Julius marks the Julian gens, and Caesar names his branch of the family. Some men added an agnomen for an honor or victory, such as Africanus for Publius Cornelius Scipio after he defeated Hannibal. Formal records also listed the father's praenomen and the voting tribe.

Romans drew on a short list of about eighteen praenomina. Gaius, Lucius, Marcus, Publius and Quintus were the most widespread, followed by Titus, Gnaeus, Sextus, Aulus, Decimus, Tiberius and Servius. Rarer ones included Appius, Kaeso, Mamercus, Manius, Numerius and Spurius. In writing they were usually abbreviated: C. for Gaius, Cn. for Gnaeus, M. for Marcus, L. for Lucius.

Most women were known by the feminine form of their family nomen, so a daughter of Marcus Tullius Cicero was Tullia and a daughter of the Cornelii was Cornelia. Sisters shared that name and were distinguished as Major and Minor, or by number: Prima, Secunda, Tertia. In the late Republic and imperial period women sometimes also carried a cognomen, as in Caecilia Metella.

Yes. Rome: Total War builds its factions around the Julii, Brutii and Scipii, so ask for a member of one of those families and you get a matching nomen. Ryse: Son of Rome follows the same pattern with its hero Marius Titus. For D&D, ask for a Roman-flavored setting and you get names that fit a legion, senate or imperial court without needing real history.

Many gladiators were slaves or prisoners and fought under stage names chosen to sound fierce, fast or exotic. Some were Latin words like Ferox (fierce) or Celer (swift), others borrowed from animals, gods or famous heroes. A few real fighters kept their own names, like the Thracian Spartacus. Ask for a fighting style such as murmillo or retiarius and the generator matches the persona.

Cicero comes from cicer, Latin for chickpea. Plutarch says an ancestor had a cleft at the tip of his nose that looked like one. Cognomina like this began as personal nicknames and were then passed down to identify a branch of the gens. That is why aristocratic families kept names meaning fat, bald or stammering for centuries without any embarrassment.

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