Barry Popik namecheck

[Wilson Gray]

Did the fact that I wrote that this particular version of naming by
numerical birth-order was peculiar to the ancient Romans escape
notice? Or am I simply missing the point?

-Wilson

On Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at 3:53 PM, sagehen <sagehen at westelcom.com> wrote:
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> Subject:      Re: Barry Popik namecheck
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> 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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