§40. On the other hand even the triple name was too long for ordinary use. Children, slaves, and intimate friends addressed the citizen, master, and friend by his _praenōmen_ only. Ordinary acquaintances used the _cognōmen_ with the _praenōmen_ prefixed for emphatic address. In earnest appeals we find the _nōmen_ also used, with sometimes the _praenōmen_ or the possessive _mī_ prefixed. When two only of the three names are thus used in familiar intercourse the order varies. If the _praenōmen_ is one of the two, it always stands first, except in the poets for metrical reasons and in a few places in prose where the text is uncertain. If the _praenōmen_ is omitted, the arrangement varies: the older writers and Cicero put the _cognōmen_ first, _Ahāla Servilius_ (Cic. Milo, 3, 8: cf. _C. Servilius Ahāla_, Cat. I., 1, 3). Caesar puts the nōmen first; Horace, Livy, and Tacitus have both arrangements, while Pliny adheres to Caesar's usage. It will be convenient to consider the three names separately, and to discuss the names of men before considering those of the other members of the _familia_. §41. The Praenomen.--The number of names used as _praenōmina_ seems to us preposterously small as compared with our Christian names, to which they in some measure correspond. It was never much in excess of thirty, and in Sulla's time had dwindled to eighteen. The full list is given by the authorities named above, but the following are all that are often found in our school and college authors: _Aulus_ (_A_), _Decimus_ (_D_), _Gāius_ (_C_), _Gnaeus_ (_CN_), _Kaesō_ (_K_), _Lūcius_ (_L_), _Mānius_ (_M'_), _Mārcus_ (_M_), _Pūblius_ (_P_), _Quīntus_ (_Q_), _Servius_ (_SER_), _Sextus_ (_SEX_), _Spurius_ (_SP_), _Tiberius_ (_TI_), and _Titus_ (_T_). The forms of these names were not absolutely fixed, and we find for _Gnaeus_ the forms _Gnaivos_ (early), _Naevos_, _Naeus_, and _Gnēus_ (rare); so also for _Servius_ we find _Sergius_, the two forms going back to an ancient _Serguius_. The abbreviations also vary: for _Aulus_ we find regularly _A_, but also _AV_ and _AVL_; for _Sextus_ we find _SEXT_ and _S_ as well as _SEX_, and similar variations are found in the case of other names.