Editing Roman naming conventions (section)

===Edict of Caracalla===
With the [[Constitutio Antoniniana]] in 212, the emperor [[Caracalla]] granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. It had long been the expectation that when a non-Roman acquired citizenship he, as part of his enfranchisement, took on a Roman name.<ref name=Salway133>Salway, p.133</ref> With the mass enfranchisement of 212, the new citizens adopted [[Aurelia gens|the nomen "Aurelius"]] in recognition of Caracalla's beneficence<ref name=Salway130/> (the emperor's full name was Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus, with Aurelius as the nomen). "Aurelius" quickly became the most common nomen in the east and the second most common (after "Julius") in the west.<ref name=Salway134>Salway, p.134</ref> The change in the origins of the new governing elite that assumed control of the empire from the end of the third century can be seen in their names: seven of the eleven emperors between [[Gallienus]] and [[Diocletian]] ([[Claudius Gothicus]], [[Quintillus]], [[Probus (emperor)|Probus]], [[Carus]], [[Carinus]], [[Numerian]] and [[Maximian]]) bore the name "Marcus Aurelius"<ref name=Salway136>Salway, p.136</ref>

Although praenomina were not adopted by the new citizens, reflecting the pre-existing decline amongst "old" Romans,<ref name=Salway133/> in the west the new names were formulated on the same basis as the existing Roman practices.<ref name=Salway134/> In the east, however, the new citizens formulated their names by placing "Aurelius" before versions of their non-Roman given name and a patronymic.<ref name=Salway134/> Ultimately, the ubiquity of "Aurelius" meant that it could not function as a true distinguishing nomen, and became primarily just a badge of citizenship added to any name.<ref name=Salway134/>