ABSTRACT
First, naming practices go through a limited number of long-term phases. The Roman tria nomina develop in the Republican period and survive into the Empire to be replaced for most classes by a Latin single-name system. With the fall of Rome, this gives way-but not at once-to a Germanic singlename system, in which names are composed of specific elements and in which originally each person has a distinct name. Only in the central medieval period is a second name introduced, which becomes a fixed family name from around the fourteenth century, though this process is delayed for much of the peasantry until later. Once fixed from the medieval period, second names survive unchanged down to the present. Christianity had little impact on naming practices until the same central medieval period when naming after the universal saints became very common. This greatly reduced the name stock and introduced the phenomenon of concentration: very many people shared very few names. The modern Christian first name plus hereditary family name is the norm from this time. Further first or middle names were added from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The rhythm of these changes was influenced by external factors which we will discuss, but it immediately suggests a periodization somewhat at odds with traditional schemes. Roman and Latin influence persisted well after the fifth century. The decisive changes and the formation of our modern system came in the central medieval period, and, once formed, the new system did not change through the early modern and modern centuries with their upheavals. It merely spread through society and experienced minor modifications.
