Ancient Roman Names
Rome named its children from a short list of praenomina, a long list of clans, and earned nicknames that stuck for life. Two thousand years later the same names — Marcus, Julia, Felix, Octavia — still sound like authority.
| Save name | Name & connection | History 1926–2025, yearly counts; individually scaled | Babies 2025 · rank | 5-year rank movement | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The daughters of the Julian clan, Caesar's own. | 2,172#131 | Down 23 rank positions in five years | 2001 | ||
From Mars, god of war; a first name every Roman knew. | 1,341#258 | Down 32 rank positions in five years | 1984 | ||
Feminine of Claudius, name of an imperial dynasty. | 219#1,096 | Down 75 rank positions in five years | 1952 | ||
Diminutive of Prisca — 'ancient, venerable'. | 555#544 | Up 19 rank positions in five years | 1942 | ||
The name that says the whole civilization. | 6,162#42 | Up 35 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
Caesar's clan name, traced to Rome's founding legends. | 759#424 | Down 89 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Latin 'lucky' — a cognomen that never went out of use. | 2,064#175 | Up 50 rank positions in five years | 2024 | ||
One of Rome's oldest clans, from 'to be strong'. | 1,835#162 | Down 12 rank positions in five years | 2008 | ||
Rome's national poet, author of the Aeneid. | 129#1,417 | Up 370 rank positions in five years | 1921 | ||
Feminine of Marcus — 'of Mars'. | 272#948 | Up 90 rank positions in five years | 1922 | ||
From valens, 'strong' — a Roman family name turned favorite. | 5,354#35 | Up 38 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
Feminine of Lucius — born at daybreak, by the old reading. | 3,012#83 | Up 77 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
One of Rome's most storied patrician families. | 82#1,908 | Down 395 rank positions in five years | 1974 | ||
Latin 'red-haired' — a nickname that lasted two millennia. | 27#4,018 | Down 16 rank positions in five years | 1922 | ||
Latin 'greatest' — a general's earned cognomen. | 1,249#276 | Down 25 rank positions in five years | 2014 | ||
Daughter-name of the Antonii, one of Rome's great clans. | 175#1,279 | Down 105 rank positions in five years | 1996 | ||
The emperor who completed the Colosseum. | 910#358 | Down 18 rank positions in five years | 2015 | ||
Sister of Augustus, famed for loyalty and grace. | 982#308 | Up 26 rank positions in five years | 2021 | ||
Rome's first emperor; the month of August honors him. | 783#407 | Up 92 rank positions in five years | 2024 | ||
Latin 'golden'; Julius Caesar's mother. | 1,056#290 | Up 241 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
A Roman family name; Shakespeare gave it a courtroom. | 14#7,801 | Down 1,999 rank positions in five years | 1989 | ||
Rome's first empress, wife of Augustus. | 332#820 | Down 4 rank positions in five years | 2018 | ||
Latin 'light'; one of the handful of classic Roman first names. | 189#1,129 | Up 95 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
An old patrician family name — and Muhammad Ali's birth name. | 504#583 | Down 95 rank positions in five years | 2021 | ||
A Roman virtue name: upright, fair. | 79#1,952 | Down 798 rank positions in five years | 2007 | ||
From the Sabine people of Rome's earliest days. | 68#2,579 | Down 243 rank positions in five years | 2005 | ||
Latin 'great', the title Pompey claimed. | 337#765 | Up 36 rank positions in five years | 2021 | ||
Queen of the Roman gods, protector of the state. | 179#1,252 | Up 560 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
The philosopher-emperor who wrote the Meditations. | 230#991 | Up 987 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
The Stoic philosopher and playwright. | 16#5,806 | Down 388 rank positions in five years | 1977 | ||
From Horatius, the soldier who held the bridge alone. | 6#11,167 | Down 4,403 rank positions in five years | 2007 | ||
Twin brother in Rome's founding myth. | 16#5,787 | Down 965 rank positions in five years | 2019 | ||
The emperor who walled off the edge of Britain. | 50#2,617 | Up 1,571 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
The statesman Rome remembered for incorruptibility. | 45#2,803 | Up 475 rank positions in five years | 2025 |
Page 1 of 1
Sources & methodology
Meaning summaries use Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and referenced name histories. Each name’s detail page includes its sources.
Membership on this list is editorial — we chose names that genuinely fit the theme. Every number is from official birth data: "—" means the name had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, which makes it a genuinely rare pick today, not an invalid one. The dot marks whether the stats shown are for the girls' or boys' use of the name.