Nominative Forms of Latin Names
Guidelines for Finding the Nominative of Latin Personal Names
1st Declension (-a, -ae):
| Nom. | Mari-a |
| Gen. | Mari-ae |
| Dat. | Mari-ae |
| Acc. | Mari-am |
| Abl. | Mari-a |
2nd Declension (-us, -i):
| Nom. | Nicola-us | Alexander |
| Gen. | Nicola-i | Alexandr-i |
| Dat. | Nicola-o | Alexandr-o |
| Acc. | Nicola-um | Alexandr-um |
| Abl. | Nicola-o | Alexandr-o |
3rd Declension:
| Nom. | Joannes | Leo | Caesar |
| Gen. | Joann-is | Leon-is | Caesar-is |
| Dat. | Joann-i | Leon-i | Caesar-i |
| Acc. | Joann-em | Leon-em | Caesar-em |
| Abl. | Joann-e | Leon-e | Caesar-e |
A few more guidelines …
- Latin masculine names are predominantly 2nd or 3rd declension (but there are a few exceptions that are 1st declension and they should end in -a). Feminine names are generally 1st declension.
- Two major practices seem to be present in the formation of masculine names in Latin:
- Either a name is Latinized into a standard 2nd declension form (e.g. Henricus, Iacobus, etc.), causing it to have the usual -us form in the nominative
- Or else it keeps its usual form in the nominative case and is declined only in the other cases either following 2nd declension (e.g. Alexander, -dri) or, more often, the 3rd declension (e.g. Joannes, -is, or Leo, -nis, etc.).
- Names seem to usually only follow the first three declensions.