If you want to give your child a unique name or recommend a name for someone else’s baby, try looking at Ancient Roman names. The Ancient Roman aristocrats had interesting naming conventions for their children. For example, the praenomen or first name was usually selected by the parents. Sometimes the praenomen was decided by naming the child by physical characteristics. At other times names were chosen for their favorable meanings. Here are some nice praenomina for Ancient Roman male children :

Gaius = rejoicer. The origins of this name are Etruscan. There is a bit of debate as to what this name means, but some experts have suggested that it may mean something to the effect of “one who rejoices”.

Volesus = the strong one. Some experts believe that Volesus may have come from the word valere, which means “to be strong”.

Manius = morning/good. Some people believe that the name Manius comes from mane, which means “morning”. If your baby was born in the morning, this may not be such a bad name. However, others believe that Manius comes from the archaic adjective manus. Manus = good.

Faustus = lucky. Although Faustus means ‘lucky’ or ‘auspicious’ in Latin, there are other connotations with the name that are pejorative in meaning. If you look up the adjective ‘Faustian’ in the dictionary, it refers to someone who gives up their morals to achieve money or power. The latter, more negative connotation comes from a German legend of a man named Faust who made a deal with the devil.

Lucius = light/bright/shining. Some experts say this name is derived from the Latin word for light, which is lux. Others say that it comes from the archaic adjective loucus, which means ‘bright’ or ‘shining’.

Now if you have a baby girl and you want to give her an Ancient Roman name, you might be disappointed to know that many aristocratic women were rarely called by their praenomen or first name. The praenomen was used to identify individuals in legal matters, but since Ancient Roman women were not included in public life, they seldom had a need for a praenomen.

However, that’s not to say that Ancient Roman women did not have a praenomen. They did, but it was the feminized form of a masculine name. So if we were to use the examples above, Fausta would be the feminine form of Faustus. The same goes for Lucia, Mania, Volesa and Gaia. To feminize a masculine name, take the genitive of the name. So for example, the feminine form of Antonius would be Antonia.

The praenomina of nobles were common, so in order to distinguish certain individuals from each other, you needed a nomen. A nomen is the clan name, or what we call the ‘last name’. For the sake of giving your baby a unique name, you can just use the nomen as a praenomen. My favorite nomen is Favonius, which means ‘favorable’.