Examples of “cognomen” in a Sentence

noun An extra name given to an Ancient Roman, added to their first and family names, often to show which clan they belonged to.

• Julius Caesar's actual name was Gaius Iulius Caesar. Gaius was his praenomen or forename, Iulius his nomen or surname, and Caesar his cognomen, denoting which part of the Iulius family he belonged to.
• Roman tradition suggests that he might also have had the cognomen Octavian to indicate his biological family. — David Potter (2007)

noun A family name, used in the same way as a surname.

• What's in a name? Well, to the Dragons, it would seem rather a lot, as they've tonight committed their cash to personalised products and to the man with the most famous cognomen in confectionery. I'll leave you to look that one up. — Dragons' Den, spoken by Evan Davis (2018)