Roman bust of a woman
Roman women did not have unique names. They usually took the female form of the family name. This is how Julia came from the Julius family, and for example, the daughter of Marcus Tullius Cicero was called Tulia. This name-surname was the first member of the name of a woman, and for a very long time, until the end of the republic, the only one.
When the father of the family had more daughters, the younger one was given the nickname Minor (“Younger”), another Tertia (“The Third”), and so on with subsequent numerals.
Sources
- Koper Sławomir, Miłość i polityka. Kobiety świata antycznego, Warszawa 1997
