sextus

Sextus is a Latin male given name meaning "sixth." In ancient Rome it began as a praenomen, used to designate a sixth-born child or to distinguish individuals within a family, and later became a standalone given name carried by various Roman authors and officials. The feminine form Sexta is seldom used.

Notable bearers include Sextus Tarquinius, the son of Tarquin the Proud, whose assault on Lucretia helped trigger the expulsion of the kings in 509 BCE. Sextus Roscius Amerinus, a citizen of Ameria in the 1st century BCE, was the subject of Cicero's Pro Roscio Amerino; his case is famous for its rhetoric. Sextus Propertius (c. 50–15 BCE) was a leading poet of the Augustan age, known for his elegies. Sextus Empiricus (c. 160–210 CE) was a physician-philosopher and skeptical Pyrrhonist whose works influenced later skepticism. Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40–103 CE) was a Roman official and author of De aquis urbis Romae, a key treatise on the city's water supply; he also held high office in Britain. Sextus Pompeius Magnus (67–35 BCE), son of Pompey, commanded forces in the civil wars and opposed Octavian, ultimately defeated at Naulochus.

Today the name is more often encountered in historical or literary contexts than as a common modern given name, though it persists in some Italian and Spanish traditions as a traditional form.