A recent article on the Huffington Post dares to make a bold prediction when it comes to trends in baby names--that monikers from Ancient Rome will soon be popular. She cites the Roman names in the Hunger Games as proof of the new trend. She may be right in that regard. God knows how many Bellas and Edwards are in the world now than before Twilight became popular.
The readers of my manuscript draft were often thrown when they found that one of my characters was named "Melissa." They thought it was too modern, but I just chuckled. While it's not Roman, but Greek, it's a name that is several thousand years old. Angela, Amelia, Bryce (which was a Greek girl's name), Laura and Patricia are also ancient names.
I like the idea of ancient Roman names coming back into vogue. Granted, I'm a little biased, but they would be much better than some of the trendy names out there right now.
Not sure that many of the men in my book have names that would be so great in the modern world. Apicius, Octavius, Sejanus, Bibaculus, Sotas. Perhaps Trio and Tycho's names would do well, though. The women, however, have names that I think would resonate better. Aelia, Annia (I changed her name to Fannia because of all the "A" names in my book but the original Annia would be better in modern times, methinks), Livia, Athene (Greek) and Celera. Popilla, however, wouldn't likely go over well.
The article I mentioned has names that I feel are fairly predictable, such as Augustus, Antonia and Vita. So to that, I give you my list of recommended Roman names:
WOMEN
Aelia
Arria
Celera
Camilla
Decima
Junia
Laelia
Lucia
Lucilla
Maxima
Nerva
Porcia
Sabina
Salina
Tertia
Vatia
Valeria
MEN
Aquila (can also be a female name)
Caius
Capito
Cassius
Corvin
Corvinus
Dento
Galeo
Gaius
Julius
Junius
Lucius
Marcellus
Marinus
Maro
Nero
Otho
Quintus
Rutilus
Tiberius
Varo
Varrus
Vetius
I'd love to know if you named your baby with a Roman name! Which one and why?