cognomen

[kog-noh-muhn]

noun

plural

cognomens, cognomina 

1. a surname.

2. any name, especially a nickname.

3. 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.”

cognomen

/ kɒɡˈnəʊmɛn, -ˈnəʊ-, kɒɡˈnɒmɪnəl /

noun

1. (originally) an ancient Roman's third name or nickname, which later became his family name See also agnomen nomen praenomen

Other Word Forms

• cognominal adjective
• cognominally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of cognomen¹

1800–10; < Latin, equivalent to co- co- + nōmen name, with -g- on model of nōscī: cognōscī; cognition

Word History and Origins

Origin of cognomen¹

C19: from Latin: additional name, from co- together + nōmen name; influenced in form by cognōscere to learn

Example Sentences

And so our narrator, with the concealing cognomen “Jane Smith,” holds down a well-paying job as a security analyst, probing the defensive systems of corporate clients for weaknesses.

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Largely divorced from their religious origins, they are now carnivals of cognomens, increasingly untethered from God, country and state committee.

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And people have continued to find it risibly apposite ever since - especially in conjunction with the equally commonplace cognomen, Will.

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Bob and Roberta Smith, it should be noted, is the cognomen of not two but one British artist who specializes in humorously mocking art institutions and the conventional attitudes they tend to promulgate.

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The name Liszt would be meal or flour in English; so that Frank Flour might have been his unromantic cognomen; a difference from Liszt Ferencz, with its accompanying battle-cry of Eljen!

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