Barry Popik namecheck

[sagehen]

on 4/5/08 1:21 PM, Wilson Gray at hwgray at GMAIL.COM wrote:

> The ancient Romans used a variation of this naming method. No doubt
> everyone here recalls Quintus, i.e. "Fifth," Tullius Cicero, one of
> Caesar's generals and Marcus Tullius Cicero's younger brother. The
> Romans had no names for women at all, only feminine ordinal numerals
> and their nicknominal and diminutive variants, for example,
> "Priscilla," a nickname based on "Prima," i.e. "First (Daughter)."
>
> -Wilson
~~~~~~~~~~
There are quite a few Octaviuses (Octavii?) & Octavias in my family tree.  I
doubt if they were all eighth-born, though the IXX Cent families in which
they appeared  did tend to have big broods. (There is also a Tullius Cicero
-- no ordinal in evidence -- mentioned in the same genealogy). My
grandfather's uncle, Octavius Decatur Gass, seems to have owned a lot of
what later became Las Vegas. I haven't seen it, but I understand there is a
large sign ("Welcome to GASS Station") somewhere on the strip, put up by the
local historical society.
AM

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