1. Roman law. A personal name. • A Roman citizen generally had three names: a praenomen (“first name”), a nomen (“the name of the family group”), and cognomen (“a surname”).
2. Hist. A person’s first name.
3. More broadly, any name. Pl. nomina. See AGNOMEN.
nomen collectivum (noh-men kol-[schwa]k-tI-v[schwa]m). [Latin] A collective name; a name of a class of things.
nomen generale (noh-men jen-[schwa]-ray-lee). [Latin] A general name; a genus.
nomen generalissimum (noh-men jen-[schwa]-r[schwa]-lis-i-m[schwa]m). [Law Latin] A name with the most general meaning.
“Nomen generalissimum. A very general name: a comprehensive term. Such are the terms crime, demand, draft, estate, goods, grant, heir, house, instrument, interest, land, merchandise, obligation, offense.” William C. Anderson, A Dictionary of Law 711 (1889).
nomen juris (noh-men joor-is). [Latin] A legal name or designation.
nomen universitatis (noh-men yoo-ni-v[schwa]r-s[schwa]-tay-tis). [Latin] Hist. The name of the whole together.
“Thus the name Barony is, in our law, a nomen universitatis, for it includes not only the lands over which the rights of barony extend, but also the rights competent to the owner of the barony themselves.” John Trayner, Trayner’s Latin Maxims 390 (4th ed. 1894).
