1. Compare with nomen, praenomen, agnomen ‘A grateful Senate voted him the Cognomen Augustus, by which name he is generally known in the history books.’

2. The praenomen among the Romans distinguished the person, the nomen, the gens, or all the kindred descended from a remote common stock through males, while the Cognomen denoted the particular family.

3. The Cognomen (plural cognomina) formed one of the three parts of the typical Roman name.It was placed after the praenomen and nomen.Originally cognomina were nicknames, but by the time of the Roman Empire they were inherited from father to son.Thus the Cognomen in combination with the nomen functioned as a surname, breaking families into smaller groups than just the nomen alone.