Cognomen and Agnomen

The cognomen indicated the family within the gen that the Roman belonged to. It’s a surname which is a name that a person shares with other family members. The agnomen is like a second cognomen. You’ll usually see agnomen at the end of a Roman general’s name. When they conquer a country, they’re awarded the name of the country, for example “Africanus.” By the 1st century B.C. women and lower classes began to have cognomens. Using the same example we used in the praenomen and nomen, let’s find the cognomen. If Publius was the praenomen and Vergilius was the nomen, then Maro is the cognomen.

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