For readers of Livy and students of Roman republican history, the idea that names revealed character and foretold behavior is familiar: a Manlius Torquatus can be expected to treat his son severely, and a Publius Decius Mus to devote himself in a close battle.  Names as destiny and gentilicial traits culminated in Mark Antony’s reference to Caesar’s heir as the boy who owed everything to his name, as well as to the later ban on Marcus as a praenomen for…