Editing Gens (section)

==Origins==
The word ''gens'' is sometimes translated as "race", or "nation", meaning a people descended from a common ancestor (rather than sharing a common physical trait).  It can also be translated as "clan", "kin", or "tribe", although the word [[Roman tribe|''tribus'']] has a separate and distinct meaning in Roman culture.  A gens could be as small as a single family, or could include hundreds of individuals.  According to tradition, in 479 BC the [[Fabia gens]] alone were able to field a militia consisting of three hundred and six men of fighting age.  The concept of the gens was not uniquely Roman, but was shared with communities throughout Italy, including those who spoke [[Italic languages]] such as [[Latin]], [[Oscan language|Oscan]], and [[Umbrian language|Umbrian]] as well as the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]], whose language was unrelated. All of these peoples were eventually absorbed into the sphere of Roman culture.<ref name="Harper" /><ref name="OCD" /><ref name="livy2">[[Livy]], ''[[History of Rome (Livy)|Ab Urbe Condita]]'', Book II</ref><ref name="Smith">''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', [[William Smith (lexicographer)|William Smith]], Editor.</ref>

The oldest gentes were said to have originated before the [[Founding of Rome|foundation of Rome]] (traditionally 753 BC), and claimed descent from mythological personages as far back as the time of the [[Trojan War]] (traditionally ended 1184 BC<ref name="Chronographia" />). However, the establishment of the gens cannot long predate the adoption of hereditary surnames.  The ''[[Roman naming conventions|nomen gentilicium]]'', or "gentile name", was its distinguishing feature, for a Roman citizen's nomen indicated his membership in a gens.<ref name="Harper" /><ref name="Smith" /><ref name="Chronographia">[[Eratosthenes]], ''Chronographia'', cited in [[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]], ''In Search of the Trojan War'' (1985).</ref><ref name="livy1">[[Livy|Titus Livius]], ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab Urbe Condita]]'', Book I.</ref>

The nomen could be derived from any number of things, such as the name of an ancestor, a person's occupation, physical appearance, character, or town of origin.  Because some of these things were fairly common, it was possible for unrelated families to bear the same nomen, and over time to become confused.

Persons could be [[Adoption in ancient Rome|adopted]] into a gens and acquire its nomen. A ''libertus'', or "[[freedman]]", usually assumed the nomen (and sometimes also the praenomen) of the person who had [[Manumission|manumitted]] him, and a naturalized citizen usually took the name of the [[Patronage in ancient Rome|patron]] who granted his [[Roman citizenship|citizenship]]. Freedmen and newly enfranchised citizens were not technically part of the gentes whose names they shared, but within a few generations it often became impossible to distinguish their descendants from the original members.  In practice this meant that a gens could acquire new members and even new branches, either by design or by accident.<ref name="Harper" /><ref name="OCD" /><ref name="pauly">''[[Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft]]'', [[August Pauly]] and [[Georg Wissowa]], Editors.</ref>

===Stirpes===
Different branches or ''stirpes'' of a gens were usually distinguished by their [[cognomina]], additional surnames following the nomen, which could be either personal or hereditary.  Some particularly large stirpes themselves became divided into multiple branches, distinguished by additional cognomina.<ref name="Harper" /><ref name="Smith" />

===Praenomina===
Most gentes regularly employed a limited number of [[given name|personal names]], or ''[[praenomina]]'', the selection of which helped to distinguish members of one gens from another. Sometimes different branches of a gens would vary in their names of choice. The most conservative gentes would sometimes limit themselves to three or four praenomina, while others made regular use of six or seven.<ref name="Harper" /><ref name="OCD" />

There were two main reasons for this limited selection: first, it was traditional to pass down family names from one generation to the next; such names were always preferred. Second, most patrician families limited themselves to a small number of names as a way of distinguishing themselves from the plebeians, who often employed a wider variety of names, including some that were seldom used by the patricians. However, several of the oldest and most noble patrician houses frequently used rare and unusual praenomina.<ref name="Smith" /><ref name="pauly"/>

Certain families also deliberately avoided particular praenomina. In at least some cases, this was because of traditions concerning disgraced or dishonoured members of the gens bearing a particular name. For example, the [[Junia gens]] avoided the praenomina ''[[Titus (praenomen)|Titus]]'' and ''[[Tiberius (praenomen)|Tiberius]]'' after two members with these names were executed for treason. A similar instance supposedly led the assembly of the [[Manlia gens]] to forbid its members from bearing the praenomen ''[[Marcus (praenomen)|Marcus]]'', although this prohibition does not seem to have been strictly observed.<ref name="Harper" /><ref name="livy2"/><ref name="Smith" /><ref>[[Livy]], ''[[History of Rome (Livy)|Ab Urbe Condita]]'', Book VI.</ref>