Ancient Roman Name Generator

Ancient Roman names followed a system called the tria nomina, or "three names." A freeborn Roman man of the Republic and early Empire carried a praenomen (personal name), a nomen (the clan or gens name), and a cognomen (a family branch or nickname). Gaius Julius Caesar breaks down as Gaius of the gens Julia, of the Caesar branch. Only about a dozen praenomina were in common use, which is why Marcus, Lucius, Gaius, Publius, Quintus, and Titus appear so often in Roman history.

Roman women were usually known by the feminine form of the family nomen: Julia, Cornelia, Claudia, Livia, Aemilia. Sisters shared the same name and were told apart with Major and Minor, or Prima, Secunda, and Tertia. In the later Empire, women often added a cognomen or a name from their mother's line, giving us Livia Drusilla, Vibia Sabina, and Julia Domna. Cognomina frequently started as descriptive nicknames: Rufus (red-haired), Cicero (chickpea), Scaevola (left-handed), Maximus (greatest), Felix (lucky).

For a convincing Roman character, pick a common praenomen, pair it with a real gens name, and finish with a cognomen that says something about the person. Slaves and freedmen usually carried a single Greek or foreign name, then adopted their patron's nomen when freed. Emperors and generals often accumulated extra honorific names such as Africanus, Germanicus, or Augustus after victories.