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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3302708, member: 19463&quot;]I was taught in school overr 50 years ago:</p><p>Both Caligula and Caracalla were names given by the soldiers when the boys were young and with dad on the fronts. Neither was appreciated and neither would have been said to their faces.</p><p><br /></p><p>Praenomena (Gaius, Marcus) were used alone to address the person by family and friends but others would have used a family name.&nbsp; A generation before me many people were known by their last name rather than the first.&nbsp; I have heard &#039;Smith&#039; alone but more often it was preceded by a title like Mister or Sergeant.&nbsp; Today, many people under about 40 call me &#039;Mr. Doug&#039; which was not heard when I was younger.&nbsp;&nbsp; I can not swear that the correct answer to this under Caligula would have been the same under Aurelian.&nbsp; Time change. </p><p><br /></p><p>The last time&nbsp; I saw my grandmother before she died in her 90&#039;s (in the mid 1970&#039;s), she did not remember her husband&#039;s first name.&nbsp; He died in 1944. She always called him Mr. Smith.&nbsp; His children and friends knew him by his middle name but called him &#039;Dad&#039; or &#039;Smitty&#039;.&nbsp; I found out much later that his legal first name was only used on legal documents.&nbsp; It was his way.</p><p><br /></p><p>I believe at least some of the names from cultures that place the family name first consider it appropriate to use a family name when addressing someone and not use the third name unless they are quite close.&nbsp;&nbsp; Is this correct?</p><p><br /></p><p>I am sure someone has written a book on this subject but I have not seen it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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