cognomen
Americannoun
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cognomens,
plural
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cognomina
plural
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a surname.
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any name, especially a nickname.
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the third and commonly the last name of a citizen of ancient Rome, indicating the person's house or family, as “Caesar” in “Gaius Julius Caesar.”
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cognomen
1800–10; < Latin, equivalent to co- co- + nōmen name, with -g- on model of nōscī: cognōscī; see cognition
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And people have continued to find it risibly apposite ever since - especially in conjunction with the equally commonplace cognomen, Will.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2015
Retief Goosen - “Goose” Our second cognomen derived from a last name, which should rank it lower on the list.
From Golf Digest ● Oct. 16, 2013
Its most evocative cognomen is The Porchcrawler—one unhyphenated word, with the crunch of consonants enhancing its cinematic imagery.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2012
The English version is that I am one Sam Ogden, a great musician, Yorkshire man, emigrated to America, luggage marked S. O., U. S. A., hence the cognomen.
From Time Magazine Archive
Its cognomen was "The Lager-Bier American Volunteers, and Native Empire City Shillelagh Guards," being composed of Irish, Dutch, Spaniards, and Sandwich Islanders—the only Americans in the company being the colored target-bearers, and the undersigned.
From Doesticks, What He Says by Q. K. Philander Doesticks
Without these air-inflated cognomens, Jim and Marion Jordan might now be back in Peoria.
From Time Magazine Archive
When we ask their names, without tittering or looking silly they render up the whole list of saintly cognomens.
From The New North by Agnes Deans Cameron
Thus much for the racial element in cognomens of States.
From A Hero and Some Other Folks by William A. (William Alfred) Quayle
The editor is going to read in a hurry the first time through, and he cannot continually consult the cast to identify your constant changes in cognomens.
From Writing the Photoplay by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein
His earlier works obtained a fair measure of success, but it was not until after many years' apprenticeship, either anonymously or under assumed cognomens, that he ventured to communicate his name to the public.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. V, October, 1850, Volume I. by
On the other hand, some aristocratic families used multiple cognomina to indicate their lineage; one inscription indicates that Q. Pompeius Senecio Sosius Priscus, ordinary consul in 169, had 38 names.
From Time ● Aug. 16, 2016
The Romans had surnames, or cognomina, but the barbarians who won Europe from them had not.
From Stories That Words Tell Us by Elizabeth (Elizabeth Speakman) O'Neill
He therefore changed his praenomen to that of his adoptive father, and put his former nomen among his cognomina.
From The Student's Companion to Latin Authors by George Middleton
More certain yet is the likeness which shows in a list of 27 names, and all but one without cognomina.
From A Study of the Topography and Municipal History of Praeneste by Ralph Van Deman Magoffin
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