Domitia

Domitia is a feminine given name from ancient Rome. It is the feminine form of the nomen Domitius and is associated with the Domitia gens, a Roman family that appears in various periods of the Republic and Empire. The name is attested for several women in classical sources, and it is often found with cognomina that distinguished individuals within the gens.

Notable bearers include Domitia Longina, who became Empress of Rome as the wife of Emperor Domitian, and is the best-known bearer of the name in imperial sources. Another group of bearers is Domitia Lepida, referring to two women (often distinguished as Lepida Maior and Lepida Minor) who appear in contemporary accounts of the Julio-Claudian era. These examples illustrate how the name functioned within Roman naming practice, where a woman named Domitia would typically be identified by the gens name, sometimes accompanied by a cognomen such as Lepida or Longina to distinguish individuals.

In historical usage, Domitia would signal membership in the Domitia family, but the name itself did not correspond to a single, continuous lineage in the way modern hereditary surnames do. After antiquity, the given-name Domitia fell out of regular use, though it remains a point of reference in scholarly discussions of Roman names and is occasionally employed in modern fiction or historical writing to evoke the period.