cognomen

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cognōmen (“additional name, surname”),^[2][3][4] from co- (“together, with”) and nōmen (“name”),^[3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *no-men- (“name”).^[4][5] The dictionaries differ on the g: the OED, Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford allow for an older form of the second part with g,^[2][4][6] Weekley gives it as gnōmen,^[7] and Hoad marks it as a reconstruction,^[8] while Merriam-Webster, Collins, Klein and the American Heritage Dictionary explain it by the influence of cognōscō (“to learn, know”).^{[9][3][10][5]}

Earliest recorded meaning

A surname, a nickname or simply a name: the Shorter Oxford dates this to the early 17th century, in isolated use before the 19th century.^[6] Merriam-Webster's first date for it is 1691.^[9] Etymonline records "a distinguishing name" from 1754 and "a surname" from 1809,^[4] and the OED's earliest quotation is the 1809 one.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Regular English use begins in the early 19th century, with the word applied to English surnames and to nicknames, and soon, loosely, to any name.^[2][6] The specifically Roman sense, the last of a citizen's three names (Caius Julius Caesar, Marcus Tullius Cicero), is recorded only later, in the OED from 1879 and in the Shorter Oxford from the late 19th century, though it is the original Latin one.^[2][6][4] In Latin it could also be an additional name or epithet.^[2] A verb, "to give a cognomen to, to nickname", is recorded from 1831.^[2]

Timeline

• early 17th century – a surname, nickname or name, in isolated use.^[6] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1691.^[9]
• 1754 – a distinguishing name.^[4] The OED's first quotation for this sense, as an epithet or nickname, is from 1811.^[2]
• 1809 – an English surname, in W. Irving's History of New York.^[2][4]
• 1831 – verb, to nickname.^[2]
• 1852 – loosely, a name or appellation, in Hawthorne's Blithedale Romance.^[2]
• 1879 – in Latin use, the third name of a Roman citizen.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Among the ancient Romans, the third of a citizen's usual three names, as Cicero in Marcus Tullius Cicero, which later became the family name.^[9][3][2]
2. A surname: He signed the register with the cognomen Baxter.^[9][2]
3. A name, especially a distinguishing nickname or epithet: His speed earned him the cognomen of the Hare.^[9][2]

Word family

• cognominal
• cognominally

Related words

• agnomen
• praenomen
• nomen
• name
• nominal
• cognition

Usage notes

The plural is cognomens or cognomina;^[9][3] the Shorter Oxford marks cognomina as the earlier form.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.