Month: November 2010

“The gens Aurelia was a plebeian family at Rome. They claimed descent from Agamemnon. The family was originally Sabine, having come to Rome from Sabinum only in the third century BCE. They anchored their Sabinity on their hereditary control of the of the cult of Sol, and their grandiose genealogy from the proto-Sabine Orestes.” (Gary D. Farney, Ethnic…

Gens Iulia, the family of Julius Caesar, was a patrician family at Rome. They claimed descent from the semi-divine Iulus, but the legends vary. Iulus was identical with Ascanius, King of Alba Longa (Vergil), or he was a half-brother of Ascanius and son of Aeneas by his Trojan wife, Creüsa (Livy), or he was son…

The name Stoughton is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “stoctun” which means a large fenced dwelling. This family adopted the name because they owned the manor of Stoughton in Surrey. The original form of the name was “de Stoctun, ” and it was also spelled Stochton, Staughton, Stogton, Stawton, Stocketon, Stocktun and Stotun, before being…