Aulus (praenomen)

This article is about the Latin praenomen. For a list of individuals known by this name, see Aulus (disambiguation).

Aulus (/ˈaʊləs, ˈɔːləs/ OW-ləs, AW-ləs, Latin: [ˈau̯lʊs]), feminine Aula, is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was common throughout Roman history from the earliest times to the end of the Western Empire in the fifth century. An alternative pronunciation leads to the variant spellings Olus, Ollus and Olla. Aulus was widely used by both patrician and plebeian gentes. The name gave rise to the patronymic gens Aulia, and perhaps also to gens Avilia and the cognomen Avitus. The name was usually abbreviated A., but occasionally Av. or Avl.[1][2]

For most of Roman history, Aulus was one of the ten most common praenomina, being less common than Titus, the sixth most common praenomen, and comparable in frequency to Gnaeus, Spurius, and Sextus.[1]

  1. ^ a b Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology
  2. ^ George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897)