praenomen

plural praenomens · plural praenomina · alternative prænomen · alternative prenomen

1. Ancient RomeA first name or given name; particularly the first of the tria nomina (three nouns) borne by free male Roman citizens.

   Julius Caesar's praenomen was Gaius.

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   The Romans evolved a quite different system of nomenclature, which in its classical form consisted of three names, the praenomen (e.g. Marcus), nomen (e.g. Tullius), and cognomen (e.g. Cicero), and two other designations (the name of the father and of the tribe): […]

   1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiv

2. historicalThe throne name of a pharaoh, the fourth of the five names of the royal titulary, traditionally encircled by a cartouche and preceded by the title nswt-bjtj.

   Tutankhamun's praenomen or throne name was Nebkheperrure, "Lord of the forms of Ra".

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   The old explanation was that the Greeks applied the name [λαβύρινθος (labúrinthos)] to it [the Temple of Hawara] because the prenomen or "throne-name" of its builder, Amenemhat III., would have been pronounced *Nemarîᵉ, and, by a usual interchange of n with l, transliterated into Greek as Labaris or Lamaris.

   1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 121

3. biologyThe genus name in a binomial scientific name.

   In the name Tyrannosaurus rex, "Tyrannosaurus" is the praenomen.