Surnames related to the toponym Malta

Abstract

Neither the Romans nor the Arabs had surnames in the present-day sense of the word. In early times, the Romans had only one name, but during the whole republican era, and later in the Empire, they adopted the tria nomina system. A typical Roman three-element name comprised the prænomen (the individual’s forename or personal name), the nomen [gentile] or gens (a clan name shared by members of the same family), and the cognomen (an appellation which distinguished the individual among his kin). A full Roman name would hence run as Gaius Julius Caesar or Titus Maccius Plautus. Of these three terms, it is quite clear that the nomen, rather than the cognomen, comes closest to the modern notion of a surname. Sometimes an agnomen or attributative epithet was added; it usually represented a title given to the individual on the basis of some feat or distinction. Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus was so named because of his successful war against the Carthaginians in North Africa.