Faustus ( or occasionally ) is a Latin ''
praenomen
The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the bir ...
'', or
personal name
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is kno ...
. It was never particularly common at Rome, but may have been used more frequently in the countryside. The feminine form is ''Fausta''. The name was not usually abbreviated, but is occasionally found abbreviated F. During the period of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
, it was widely used as a ''
cognomen
A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...
'', or
surname
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
. As the
Roman nomenclature system began to break down towards the end of the
Western Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, Faustus once again became a personal name, and it has survived into modern times.
[''Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft''][Mika Kajava, ''Roman Female Praenomina: Studies in the Nomenclature of Roman Women'' (1994)]
The best-known examples of this praenomen are from the family of the dictator
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force.
Sulla had ...
, who in 81 B.C. named his twin children ''
Faustus'' and ''
Fausta
Flavia Maxima Fausta ''Augusta'' (289–326 AD) was a Roman empress. She was the daughter of Maximian and second wife of Constantine the Great, who had her executed and excluded from all official accounts for unknown reasons. Historians Zosim ...
''. The name continued to be used regularly by his descendants over the next two centuries. Other ''gentes'' from which examples are known include the
Antistii
The gens Antistia, sometimes written Antestia on coins, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Sextus Antistius, tribune of the plebs in 422 BC.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythol ...
,
Decimii,
Lartii,
Paccii,
Veidii, and
Vibii; and perhaps also the
Julii
The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain t ...
,
Servii, and
Sestii. Varro described this praenomen as obsolete in the 1st century BC, implying that it had once been more common; but it seems that by reviving it in his own family, Sulla may have started a trend which continued for some centuries, and probably also contributed to the popularity of the name as a cognomen.
Origin and meaning
The meaning of Faustus is ''fortunate'' or ''lucky'', a fact which probably inspired Sulla, who considered himself blessed by fortune. Indeed, this may have been the motivation behind many of the parents who gave this rare praenomen to their children. Another interesting example mentioned in the ''
Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft'' was of two brothers named ''Faustus'' and ''Fortunatus''. However, Fortunatus probably was not a genuine praenomen, but was chosen on that occasion simply because it was a synonym of Faustus.
Notes
{{Praenomina
Ancient Roman praenomina